Celebrity mum Kerry Katona has traced her long-lost family including a half-sister and four half-brothers who were completely unknown to her.
The discovery came when Jungle Queen Kerry, 28, hired a private detective to find her real father, knowing that she was the result of only a brief 6-month affair that her mother had with a man who saw her only once as a baby.
The family that Kerry did not know existed are half-sister Lynsey, 34, and half-brothers Wayne, 40, and Jason, 39 - Ron's sons from his first marraige. Completing the line-up are youngest brothers Ian and Paul, both 27.
But there was to be new heartache for Kerry when her father Ron Armstrong died from cancer last year, at the age of 62, just months after she learned of his address.
Ron was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the gullet in December 2007-a month after the detective had found him. While Kerry was undecided whether to meet him his condition worsened and he died very quickly.
A family friend said:"Of course Kerry had always known her father's name and that he came from Liverpool.
"It was a family secret that she was told be her mother. But they did not know where Ron was so she hired a private detective to track him down.
"It turned-out that he had been living in a council house with his wife and family just half an hour down the road and had clearly watched her find fame and fortune.
"It is sad that he died before they could arrange a meeting."
The investigator traced Ron Armstrong and his wife Joyce to terraced house in Bearncroft, Skelmersdale, Lancs.
Ron's sons and daughter bear a striking resemblance to Kerry and are willing to undergo DNA tests to prove Kerry is their relative.
Half-sister Lynsey is reported to have said: "It makes no difference to us that Kerry is a celebrity.
"If she is our sister, then she is our sister, and she will be welcome here into the family if it is true she is Dad's daughter.
"I'd like to meet her soon-but at the moment we are all in shock over this. It is a bit upsetting that Dad kept it to himself for 28 years."
I'm A Celebrity winner Kerry has four children-Molly, seven, and Lilly, six, with her ex-husband Brian McFadden and Max, one, and Heidi, two, with her current husband Mark Croft..
Youngest half-brother Paul,25, said: "I just feel sorry for Kerry. She is the victim here too. It's sad that she never got to know Ron-he was a brilliant dad."
Not even Joyce, Ron's wife of 34 years, knew Ron had an affair with Kerry's mum Sue Katona, 29 years ago.
Joyce, 55, said: "I'm in total shock. But I can understand why he never told us. Ron would have done everything he could to protect his family. But I would have forgiven him.
"If this is true and I can accept it, so will the children. We are a loving family."
Ron saw Kerry in person only once - when she was a baby at just two months of age.
Kerry's pal added:"She does want to contact Ron's family. It would good for her to find she has this ready-made family because there are times that she needs support from people she can trust.
"It's so sad. She wanted to find her dad to see what similarities they had. She wanted to know what made him tick and what she had inherited from him.
"Now she's worried that the rest of Ron's family might reject her because she was the product of her dad's short love affair."
But her newly discovered half-brother Paul added: "We're not angry with anybody, we are just shocked.
"We were only told this week that Kerry Katona thinks that our dad is her dad.
"We're a normal family and we just can't believe this has happened to us. We want to know the full truth and we can move forward from there."
naoimh, nkjn around 1 year, 5 months ago