Sue Barker says she was "never wanted" by her mother.
Sue Barker on her relationship with her mother
The 66-year-old presenter was born to Betty and Bob Barker back in 1956 but explained that because her parents had just welcomed her older brother and money was tight, her mother tried to self-induce an abortion.
She said: "My dad particularly, he worked really hard, but they had just budgeted for two kids and they didn’t have a lot of money left over. Then, a few months after my brother was born, suddenly my mum Betty was pregnant again. She apparently drank a lot of gin and bounced down the stairs one time. She always said to me, 'I didn’t want you. I feel so bad about it..'"
However, the former tennis star - whose mother lived to be 100 - went onto explain that she and Betty had a the "most wonderful relationship" and admitted that it was a "huge thing" for her to have bought a tennis racket when money was such a problem.
Speaking on BBC Four's Desert Island Discs', she added: "My mum and I had the most wonderful relationship, even though they cut corners, which is why I really salute them in giving me my tennis career as well. Even to buy me a tennis racket was a huge thing, because if you have three children you can’t favour one."
The former 'A Question of Sport' host added that her mother's secret to living a long life was doing all the "wrong things" a she revealed her mother was known as "Betty six-gins" before her death.
She said: "She wasn’t known as 'Betty six gins' for nothing. Every time the clock pinged up to six o’clock, the gin and tonic would come out. But also everything she ate was wrong. Everything was white bread, processed meats. No water, never drank water. She lived to 100, so maybe we’re all getting it wrong.”