Mary Portas became emotional as she revealed her brother Lawrence is the biological father of her son Horatio.
The retail expert fought back tears as she opened up about her unique family situation during an interview on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast.
Mary, 65, joked her brother did not ‘s**g’ her now ex-wife Melanie Rickey but was instead the former couple’s sperm donor.
‘So, Mel decided she wanted a child, and I was very clear that I wanted to have a bloodline,’ she explained.
‘I wanted, if I was going to have another child, I wanted to make sure that it was related in some way and biologically related to my other kids.’
Mary added that because she shares a close bond with her brother and knew that he ‘didn’t particularly want to have children’ she asked him to be their donor.
‘He looked after me. It was a real symbiosis,’ she said.
‘And Lawrence turned up to the old donor place and said, ‘Done it, sis!’
Mary’s ex-wife Melanie carried Horatio who was born in 2012, with the TV star saying he is the ‘image’ of her side of the family.
‘Lawrence lives abroad now, but he rings us regularly and they talk about football. God, it’s so boring!’ she said.
Mary became emotional as she recalled the sweet moment when Lawrence held Horatio for the first time.
‘The most beautiful time is when, you know, he came into the world and I rang Lawrence and Lawrence turned up and picked him up.
‘And it was like, it was his gift to me. God, I get emotional. It was his gift. And it was the greatest gift,’ she said.
‘Why the greatest gift?’ Jamie asked.
‘Oh my God, you know, like because of the years that we helped each other,’ she said. You know, I was always his big sis,and then he was able to give me this gift.’
Mary’s maiden name is Newton. She changed her surname after marrying her now ex-husband Graham Portas in 1990.
The former couple, who divorced in 2003, are parents to Mylo, 31, and Verity, 29.
She became a lesbian only in her 40s, when she met Melanie and fell for her.
