Sir David Jason, the legendary of Only Fools and Horses, tells of his emotional journey after discovering that he had a daughter he had never known existed.
Sir David Jason has opened up about the astonishing moment he found out, at 84, that he had a daughter he’d never known existed. The actor, best known for Only Fools and Horses, learned in 2023 that Abi Harris, born from a brief romance with actress Jennifer Hill during a 1970 production of Under Milk Wood, was his biological child.
He recalled the revelation on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, “[Myself and Jennifer] parted ways and we drifted apart. She got married to him, and that was it.”
Decades later, the truth emerged when Abi confronted her mother about her origins. “‘That chap you call dad is not your father,’” Hill told her. Abi’s shocked reply was: “‘What do you mean he’s not my father?’” Hill explained: “‘I think you’ll find your father is David Jason, because we had a fling together when we did these shows.’”
Although he initially felt helpless, Jason later described their eventual union as a “happy ever after” and welcomed Abi into his life. In his memoir This Time Next Year, he detailed the emotional impact, praising “the pang of sadness for those years that have passed.
When Abi reached out via a sincere letter, he was surprised. You won’t be surprised to learn that my hands are now shaking. What had just been read? I had to go over the entire article once more and read it. Then I had to read it once more. Then again, after that.
A request for an unidentified DNA test was included in the letter. He acknowledged that he had never considered having the potential to father a child in 1970 and that there had never been a point in the nearly fifty years that had passed since then.
His wife Gill Hinchcliffe, with whom he shares daughter Sophie, was “so supportive and understanding” despite the initial turmoil. “wonder and amazement, through anxiety and heartache, to fear and outright panic.”
There was an undeniable “sense of distance” between Jason and Abi when they finally met, he said, “such a complicated thing for us both.” He also learned that he had a grandson, Charlie, who is 10 years old, along with the information about Abi.
Abi had long suspected the truth, and her father, who is now an actress, is also a believer. She was aware of Jason’s past with her mother and also had a sense of their common traits, particularly the nose shape. She had grown up thinking Geoffrey Davion, who passed away in 1996, was her father.
The reunion has since blossomed into a warm relationship. Abi and Charlie joined Jason’s family for Christmas in Buckinghamshire. In a poetic twist, Abi – who has appeared in Doctor Who – even acted alongside her mother and Jason in a 2008 revival of Under Milk Wood, the very play that first brought her parents together.
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Source: Mirror
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