Grant Denyer ‘felt sick’ after learning of shocking family secret

Grant Denyer was in tears and said he “felt sick” after being told about a shocking secret from his family’s past on an SBS TV show.

Grant Denyer said he “felt sick” after discovering a horrific family secret on SBS show, Who Do You Think You Are?

In the episode which aired last night, the Gold Logie winner was told by a social historian that his great, great, great grandfather, Charles Ward, committed incest with his eldest daughter in the 1870s and the pair had a child together.

The shocking truth was uncovered as social historian Professor Shurlee Swain presented Denyer with newspaper clippings from 1877 which detailed how Charles’ daughter, Mary-Ann Langley, attacked her father by lighting several fires on the family farm.

Denyer read from a newspaper article that covered the court proceedings after the attack: “After his (Charles) wife’s death, prisoner Mary-Ann was the eldest unmarried daughter. He had no other female in the house save prisoner Mary-Ann since his wife’s death and the little boy in the house at the time of the fire was about six years of age, was an imbecile and of incestuous origin.”

Denyer was horrified by the secret.

Professor Shurlee Swain delivered the blow.

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Denyer quickly realised what the newspaper article was saying.

“Oh no … it’s not Charles, the father? He’s abused her?” Denyer said to Prof Swain.

“He abused her, yes,” she confirmed, adding it was “not uncommon in rural Australia at that time for widowed men to use their daughters this way”.

“It’s one of the dark secrets of the history of rural Australia,” the historian said.

A devastated Denyer replied: “That’s ugly and very sad.”

Mary-Ann told the court that she was not sorry for attacking her father and the farm, saying: “He has ruined me body and soul.”

But despite being the victim of incest, Mary-Ann was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

“There’s no justice in that. That makes me feel sick to my stomach,” Denyer said when told about the prison sentence.

Mary-Ann died in 1882 at the age of 38 from pneumonia. Charles died 20 years later in 1902.

It’s not known what happened to the child that Charles and Mary had together with Prof Swain telling Denyer: “There’s no record of his existence.”

Grant Denyer in tears on SBS show Who Do You Think You Are.

Denyer was in tears on the SBS show as he spoke about his horror over the family secret.

“I guess when you peer back into your family history you want to find things that you’re proud of, and that is certainly something that I am not,” he said.

The former Family Feud host added that he had no idea how he was going to tell his family the truth.

“What do you say? How do you share news like that? How do I tell my dad that story? That’s not what he grew up knowing,” Denyer said.

You can watch the full episode of Who Do You Think You Are? on SBS on Demand.