It has LONG been known as a tear-jerking TV show as celebrities reveal the secrets of their family history on trips around the world.
But it was a particularly emotional time for Olly Murs when he embarked on Who Do You Think You Are? to resolve unanswered questions for his father Peter about their family roots in Latvia.
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Olly Murs breaks silence on emotional scenes of Who Do You Think You Are Credit: BBC
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Olly solves his father Peter’s unanswered questions about their family roots in LatviaCredit: BBC
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Baby Olly with his mum Credit: BBC
While the Dance With Me singer was previously invited to take part in the BBC One show, which airs its current series on Thursdays at 9pm, now seemed like the right time to delve deeper into the life of his grandfather Eddie.
And the “heartbreaking” episode, which describes his grandfather’s escape from Soviet-occupied Latvia, brought Olly and his family closer than ever before.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Olly said: “Dad and I have never bonded like this before – we love our football, we love our music, but he’s a bit of a weirdo, like me.
“Learning about it, we definitely connected on a different level and I’ve never had that feeling between us before.
“I was able to unlock some doors that my dad had previously been denied and unable to unlock.”
In the show, Olly reveals that his grandfather Eddie was born through an affair and, when the Soviet Union took over Latvia – his father took him to England via Germany in search of a better life.
Eddie settled just a few kilometers from Olly’s current home in Essex, where his entire family still lives despite their Baltic roots.
His great-grandmother was left alone in Latvia – later imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp and, after decades of searching for her long-lost son, passed away in 1988.
Visiting her grave in the episode, Olly quickly calls his father and reveals the news of how her tragic story ended, leaving Peter in tears and Olly holding back his emotions.
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He tells the cameras: “One of the biggest things my dad asked me was that he wanted to know where she was buried, so it was a really special moment for me, to give him some answers.
“It was very emotional to see my dad crying and upset – I’ve never actually seen my dad cry.
“I think seeing him emotional made me feel like I did something really special for him and the family, to find some peace for him – to feel connected to Latvia.”
However, not all tears are for the singer and his family.
Although Olly rose to global fame as a cheeky kid from Essex with a passion for entertaining the masses with his singing, he reveals on the show that his talent isn’t just rooted in his home village.
Instead, it even comes from his great-grandfathers, who were part of a group of circus performers from Latvia – who he admits were much more daring on stage than he could ever be.
His great-grandfather took to the microphone with guitar in hand in far more daring ventures on stages across Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, balancing on stilts on his wife’s shoulders.
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‘Heartbreaking’ episode detailing grandfather’s escape from Soviet-occupied LatviaCredit: BBC
While his great-grandmother, then a single woman in her 20s, was a trapeze artist who continued to perform as part of the circus until she was five months pregnant.
Olly joked: “I just sing and dance on stage, this was another level.
“I’ve done some amazing shows in my career but, that? Imagine turning up at the O2 and doing that. I don’t know if I’ve got that in my cupboard.
“But I thought I was the only Murs that performed. Maybe I need to rethink my stage name?”
But now he at least understood where his need to perform came from.
He concluded: “I’ve always questioned myself, how can I have this job when no one else in my family has it? They’re afraid to do it, while I’m not afraid to go on stage and sing, but it’s in my blood.
“It helped me understand myself even more because performing has always been part of the family.”
- Who do you think you are? airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One.
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Source: HIS Education