Roman Kemp, who is appearing on Celebrity Race Across the World with his sister Harleymoon Kemp, has opened up about seeing their mum, Shirlie Kemp, crying nonstop
The One Show presenter Roman Kemp grew up in the spotlight and it wasn’t long before he witnessed the devastating pitfalls of fame after seeing his pop star mum, Shirlie Kemp, sobbing for days.
Just months before taking on Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 with his older sister Harleymoon Kemp, 36, which will see the sibling duo competing with other stars as they race 5,900km across central America on just £30 each a day, Roman, 32, opened up about the struggle he remembers most vividly from his childhood.
In a conversation with singer Tom Grennan on their You About? podcast, Roman shared memories of him and Harleymoon featuring in national magazines alongside their famous parents during a period when finances were tight for the family.
Shirlie and husband Martin Kemp, who was a member of the band Spandau Ballet before starring as Steve Owen in BBC soap EastEnders, were struggling with money due to the musician’s health battles in the nineties.
Martin was diagnosed with two brain tumours and had to undergo surgery to get them removed.
“My parents had no money at the time because my dad had all these operations and s*** for his brain, so, like, they were trying to get more money,” Roman explained to podcast co-host Tom.
He went on to admit that even though they had appeared on magazines as a family, Martin and Shirlie were still anxious about their children being snapped by paparazzi on holiday.
Roman continued: “But then, even up to when I was maybe 13, if we’d gone on holiday, we were never allowed to go to the beach because when we went on the beach, my mum and dad would always be like, ‘there it is’ and you’d see a boat come past, quite far out, and then, like, stop, and there would just be a long lens camera just taking pictures of kids on beaches.”
Roman heartbreakingly revealed his mum would often be left in tears after seeing pictures the paparazzi had taken of them appearing in the press.
He shared: “It’s mad in that sense, you see it less and less now, like those old celebrity pictures on the beach, you see that a lot less now.
“But at the time, my whole life, me growing up, was my mum crying because they’re taking horrendous pictures and they’d only use the worst picture.”
Reflecting on a specific traumatic moment following a holiday, Roman said Shirlie “cried for, like, five days” when photos of the family on a banana boat were published in the press.
Ahead of Celebrity Race Across the World airing on Thursday night, Harleymoon explained she was previously given the chance to go on the BBC show with her mum, but Shirlie had concerns, so the pair missed out.
Harleymoon told the Radio Times: “My mum was asked to be in the first Celebrity Race Across the World and was going to take me, but thought it sounded too hard. I was glad to have another chance to go.”
Sharing his own motivations to sign up to the series, Roman, who has been open about his struggles with anxiety and depression, said: “I came off all medication [antidepressants] over a year ago and the race was a good test for my anxiety.
“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done on television, but doing the race itself was hell! I used to watch it and wonder why a contestant was crying – well, that was me.”
