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Lesley Joseph has admitted she feels ‘tremendous guilt’ for failing to spend much time with her grandchildren.
The Birds Of A Feather star, who celebrated her 80th birthday last week, made the candid admission on Sunday at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards in London.
The actress, whose stage and screen career has spanned over sixty years, revealed she is not exactly a doting grandmother.
Lesley has largely kept her personal life out of the spotlight but she has two children, Andrew and Elizabeth, from a previous relationship with Carl Littlejohn.
‘I feel tremendous guilt for not being the grandmother my kids probably expected,’ she said, as she discussed having grandchildren for the first time.
‘I’ve never done the school run or babysitting. I just find it hard to say no to acting jobs.’
Lesley Joseph has admitted she feels ‘tremendous guilt’ for failing to spend much time with her grandchildren (Seen earlier this month)
Despite keeping her private life on the down low, Lesley has previously opened up about the loss of her mother
She told the Mirror in 2016: ‘Losing a mother when you are very young, that is incredibly difficult because they don’t grow old with you.
‘But if you lose them when they are older, you’ve had them all your life.
‘I had a very close relationship with my mother. She was one of 12, and she was the last of them to die. I talk to her every day, in my head.
‘I don’t think you ever lose that – she had a thirst for life Hopefully, touch wood, I’ve got her genes.’
Over her long-running career, Lesley has appeared in series which have included Minder, Ruth Rendall Mysteries, Night And Day and The Secret Of Eel Island.
Her stage roles have included UK productions Thoroughly Modern Millie, Calendar Girls, Annie and Young Frankenstein.
In 2016, Lesley was announced as one of the contestants on Strictly Come Dancing, where she was partnered with Anton du Beke.
The Birds Of A Feather star, who celebrated her 80th birthday last week, made the candid admission on Sunday at the Variety Club Showbusiness Awards in London (Pictured)
The dancing couple left the series in week five.
Earlier this year, Lesley shared a fond memory of her one encounter with the late Pope Francis.
The actress met the late Pontiff when taking part in 2019 BBC series Pilgrimage: The Road To Rome.
Granted an audience with the Pontiff during filming, Lesley proudly recalled Francis telling her: ‘You don’t look 72.’
Later receiving a parting embrace and kiss on the cheek from the Pope at the end of his audience, Lesley added: ‘He burst out laughing and said, “You still don’t look 72!”
‘At which point I put my arm on his arm and said, “Oh, bless you!” Everybody fell about. “I can’t believe you’ve just blessed the Pope!”‘
Lesley has largely kept her personal life out of the spotlight but she has two children, Andrew and Elizabeth, from a previous relationship with Carl Littlejohn (Seen with Elizabeth in 2015)
