Jay Blades says he had absent father and left his own child's mother

‘I wasn’t ready, plain and simple’: The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades reveals how his own experience with an absent father saw him abandon the mother of his first child as he grappled with fatherhood at the age of 20

• The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades, 52, revealed he left the mother of his first child
• A father at age 20, he told Desert Island Discs: ‘I wasn’t ready, plain and simple’ 
• The BBC presenter and his half-brother were raised by teenage mother Barbara 
• His father ‘disappeared’ and abandonment meant he never saw how to be a dad

The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades has revealed he left the mother of his first child because he could not handle being a father at 20.

He says he was abandoned by his dad as a baby and had no idea how to be a father. ‘I wasn’t ready, plain and simple,’ he tells Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 today.

Blades, 52, adds of the boy Levi’s mother: ‘I think I stayed with her for about a year and that was it.

‘If you don’t see something, you have to be taught how to do it.’

The Repair Shop’s Jay Blades has revealed he left the mother of his first child because he could not handle being a father at 20

His mother Barbara was a teenage single mum, raising the BBC presenter and his half-brother Justin. They spent time in a homeless refuge before moving in with family members in Hackney. East London.

Throughout his Desert Island Discs chat Blades refuses to use the word ‘father’ about his biological dad Trevor, instead calling him ‘the man who contributed towards my birth’.

He says Trevor promised his mother he would find them a home and they would ‘live happily ever after’.

But instead, ‘he disappeared with the money and that was it. She had to make her own way’.

Blades has previously said he did not meet Trevor until he was 21 and later found out he has 27 half- brothers and sisters.

Blades pictured with his beloved mother, Barbara, who raised him as a single mum after his father, Trevor, left

He is famous for fixing treasured family possessions on the TV show but says he has no intention of repairing the relationship with Trevor.

He tells host Lauren Laverne: ‘My attitude towards him is still the same. He called me up when The Repair Shop started on the BBC and I didn’t know who it was.

‘First, he was talking to me about how he wanted something restored and I said we don’t take things like that. You’re going to have to go through the appropriate channels.

‘And he’s like, “you don’t know who this is” and then he continued to say that he’s the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing – because I am half of him. I just said to him, “I disagree. But what I do agree with is that you have shown me how not to be a father, so I can only thank you for that”. And then we parted ways.’

Blades, who has become a sex symbol in The Repair Shop’s success, has another son Dior, 27, from a previous relationship and a teenage daughter Zola from his marriage.

Blades, who has become a sex symbol in The Repair Shop’s success, has another son Dior, 27, from a previous relationship and a teenage daughter Zola from his marriage

He believes he now has good parenting skills – but adds his children could be the judge.

‘I think my children are grounded,’ he says. ‘I can be quite strict. I say the same thing, I’m quite repetitive.

‘But I say the same thing to a lot of the young people I mentor. That they should have a brilliant attitude towards life, keep on moving forward and keep on doing your best. Everything will be all right.’

Desert Island Discs is on Radio 4 today at 11.15am. It is repeated on Friday at 9am.

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