Mix 102.3 star Ali Clarke is searching for her biological father

Mix 102.3 breakfast host Ali Clarke has made a dramatic on-air revelation this morning.

Radio personality Ali Clarke has broken down after bravely revealing on air she has never known her biological father.

The Mix 102.3 breakfast show star was initially composed as she announced to listeners and co-hosts Max Burford and Shane Lowe on Wednesday that it was one of her biggest secrets.

Clarke said that she was determined to find out his fate – but was armed only with her mother’s memories, one photo, a name, and her paternal grandmother’s address in England, from where presents had, for a time, been posted.

A tearful Clarke described her fears that any effort to find her real dad would affect her mother, Mary Carle, and beloved stepfather Rod, who walked her down the aisle at her wedding with Crows AFLW coach Matthew Clarke.

Ali Clarke on her wedding day with husband Matt, flanked by stepdad Rod, brother Nick and mum Mary. Picture: Russell Millard

“I have never talked about this … I don’t know anything about my biological dad and his family, or if I have brothers or sisters,” she said.

“All I know about my birth dad is that Mum left him, and the only other real memory I have is in primary school. One day my Mum told me he had passed away.

“We never spoke about it again. I don’t even know if there was a funeral.”

The progress of the investigation, including if her dad is alive or not, will be revealed over a number of weeks on the show.

Ali Clarke as a baby with her mum. Picture: Supplied

Ali Clarke with her stepdad. Picture: Supplied

The revelations came after the Ali Clarke Breakfast Show used a private investigator to try to help two audience members in the same situation.

The campaign triggered deep-seated anguish for Clarke, who had only ever thought about her biological dad “in passing”.

“I truly think it is incredibly brave what they have done. And … I am in a very similar position,’’ Clarke told listeners.

“I don’t have any of that history of mine and I am starting to wonder why.”

Ali and younger brother Nick.

Ali nursing Nick as a baby.

The show provided a private investigator to help audience members Nicole and Bronwyn unravel their own family secrets.

“We have all been on the journey with both Nicole and Bronwyn as they have tracked down their birth fathers and have been able to get some answers to some incredibly sensitive and private parts of their lives,’’ said Clarke, who grew up in Brisbane before moving to Adelaide with Matthew, a former Brisbane, Adelaide and St Kilda player, about 20 years ago.

“Seeing this, I now just want to do the same.”

Clarke went on to praise her stepfather, who she says is her “dad” and has been in her life since she was three.

She added that she was “scared” about the impact the search for her birth father would have on her family.

“He (Rod) was the one who walked me down the aisle and he was the man who I have shared my life growing up with,” Clarke said.