‘Proud of this guy’: David Campbell opens up about rocker father Jimmy Barnes

TV personality David Campbell says he still gets emotional when he thinks about the night his famous father, Jimmy Barnes, admitted he regrets missing his childhood.

Speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph, the pair revealed how they’ve bonded and fixed their relationship over the years.

In December 2016, on stage at the Sydney Opera House, Jimmy, 62, told the crowd he had no regrets about his life, except that his missed David’s childhood.

David told the publication he was preparing to walk out on stage that night and was a mess after the admission. He said seeing his father’s new documentary, Working Class Boy, recently made him recall that moment.

“Seeing the doco [sic] the other night reminded me again, when he had said that ‘I don’t have any regrets but if I had one thing, I would go back…’ And even now, it’s a bit hard to say,” he said.

As the publication reports, David was adopted by his maternal grandmother Joan when his father Jimmy had him as a teen. Up until a teenager, David thought his father was a family friend and his mother Kim, his sister.

Taking to Instagram, David wrote: Proud of this guy. He has opened up and been so vulnerable the last three years through his books, tours and now New documentary #WorkingClassBoy. We have healed in ways that are hard to describe.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmmR-wxHxoo/?taken-by=davidcampbell73

Read more: Jimmy Barnes, 62, is recovering after taking a stumble on stage

Earlier this week, in a very frank interview with The Daily Telegraph, Jimmy opened up about his traumatic childhood.

The rocker revealed he still blames his mum, Dorothy for failing to protect him and his five siblings from a horror upbringing at the hands of his alcoholic father. “The hardest thing about all of this, mum knew what was going on,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

Jimmy has previously admitted he attempted suicide in his hotel room in Auckland in 2012. In the prologue of his book Working Class Man, Jimmy revealed that he almost took his own life just five years ago. He wrote that he woke up in his large hotel suite — where he was staying with wife Jane Mahoney — not remembering that he tried to take his own life.

If you or someone you know is struggling, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 for crisis and suicide prevention support.

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