The Loose Women presenter, 44, was born and bred in the UK with her family hailing from Jamaica, and so – like many other first and second-generation Afro-Caribbean Brits – counts both islands as home. However, there is at least a third location tied to her roots that somewhat came as a surprise for Charlene.
Not only was Charlene shocked to learn she has Scottish ancestry, but it was how she found out that took her aback.
A few years ago, the ITV star traced her roots in the documentary Empire’s Child, where she met with a genealogist to learn more about her past and specifically who she came from. During the enlightening yet harrowing trip, Charlene discovered – as expected – that she was the descendent of plantation owner John Stanbury, her great-grandfather five times over.
However, her mind was blown when she learned more than she bargained for.
Charlene, whose new book No Place Like Home explores Black British identity, told : ‘It was a raw moment and it’s the little things – me and my sister’s hair isn’t all one colour. Every strand is slightly different colours which is why hair dye has always taken well.
‘Before I started going grey, in the summer my hair would go red in the sun and [the genealogist] said it’s because your ancestors, the plantation owners, were Scottish. So she said a lot of the red hair would come from the Scottish that’s in your blood and it would be a throwback to that. All because you’re descendants of Scots.’
When it was noted how beautiful yet simultaneously harrowing this was, Charlene agreed: ‘That’s the constant battle of descendants of slaves – it’s beautiful to find out your history but your history also involves family members who were responsible for a ton of death, a ton of destruction and a huge amount of violence. And that’s tough.’
During the trip to Clarendon, Jamaica, the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here star was taken to the plot of land bought by her ancestors once they attained freedom and were no longer enslaved. To say it was an emotional visit is an understatement.
‘I think the nature of my family being from the Caribbean – I already knew that I was a descendant of slaves. If your family’s from the Caribbean, chances are, you are,’ she explained.
‘So it’s not that I didn’t know the history, it’s different when your own personal history is laid out in front of you. When you can put names to individuals, where you can see the numbers of my family who were born into servitude and also who died in servitude and never knew what it was like to be free. That was quite difficult because we don’t always understand just how many generations that crossed.’
Charlene viewed the plot of land as a physical representation of her family ‘choosing to not work on the plantation’ as freed slaves were given the option to ‘go it alone or to continue to work on the land of their owners.’
‘One thing the genealogist said to me was that need and want for more within your family, this is where it started where they wanted to give the future generations to come a different way,’ she recalled.
‘There is a vein that runs through your family of wanting more and she said this plot of land is indicative of that, and that was quite a powerful thing for me.’
For many immigrants and first and second-generation Black Brits, there is often the feeling from others that they have to choose where they call home and to which continent and country they belong. However, it’s not so cut and dry and it is possible – and their right – to consider both the UK and elsewhere home while enjoying the melting pot of cultures.
As Charlene so perfectly summed it up: ‘I think we’re constantly on a journey. I’m first generation born here so you navigate in a slightly different way than my parents who were not born here. My children will navigate the world in a slightly different way than I did because I’m not an immigrant.
‘I think we also have to give ourselves time and space to understand that no two stories and experiences are the same. One thing we always have to hold onto is the fact that we deserve to call home wherever we deserve to call home.
‘That fight that my parents and grandparents had when they moved here isn’t the same as my fight.
‘There is mentally that constant battle of wanting the world to be fair and we have the right for the world to be fair.’
It’s why Charlene decided to put pen to paper and explore the theme of Black British identity in her first book, No Place Like Home. However, the broadcaster and journalist wanted to go beyond her own story and find out what life in Black Britain is like for others; for example, someone who grew up in a care home and another who fought on the frontline in the British armed forces.
‘It got me thinking about homes for other people… because it’s very individual to each of us where we see home and where it sits in our hearts,’ Charlene explained.
She added: ‘When we look at the riots of [August], what I choose to focus on is not those people who took to the streets of my home with anger, violence and oppression, I choose in my heart to remember the thousands who took to the streets of Walthamstow, those people who choose love and not those who choose hate.
‘That’s my home. They’re not a representation of who we are.’