Piers Morgan is a name known to the nation – for better or for worse.
Since his epic strop on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, which saw him storm off set after rowing with weatherman Alex Beresford about Meghan Markle, he has become even more infamous.
But even his most loyal fans might be stunned to discover that Piers Morgan wasn’t actually the name he was born with.
And the story behind the journalist’s real name is tinged with tragedy.
Piers was born in Surrey in March 1965, to father Vincent Eamonn O’Meara – a dentist from Galway, Ireland – and English Catholic mum Gabrielle Georgina Sybille.
But from an early age, Piers’ life was marred with tragedy, as his dad Vincent died in a road accident when his son was just 11 months old, and his brother Jeremy was three.
His mum later went on to marry Welsh pub landlord Glynne Pughe-Morgan – and Piers Stefan O’Meara took the double-barrelled surname.
However, it was while working freelance for The Sun that he decided to scrap the double-barrelled name to be more instantly recognisable in a newspaper byline.
(Image: Getty)
Piers explained of the name change in 2017: “My father died when I was one. Hence the name change when my mother remarried.”
Throughout his life, Piers has referred to Glynne as his ‘dad’ – and commemorated his 80th birthday with a range of sweet snaps posted to social media.
While standing alongside his step-father and son Spencer – with all three beaming at the camera – Piers wrote: “Three generations of trouble. Happy 80th Dad!”
(Image: piersmorgan/Instagram)
He added: “Happy 80th Birthday to my Dad… a great man who taught me the two golden rules in life: 1) Always be polite to police officers and 2) Always drink the best French wine you can afford.
“Sadly, for him, he forgot the third one… Never let your son grow up to be an Arsenal fan if you support Spurs.”
Piers has opened up about his own religious beliefs after growing up with a Catholic mum, admitting he identifies as a Catholic and believes in an afterlife, but doesn’t go to Confession.
As a young lad, Piers attended prep school before making a move to a comprehensive secondary school – and finally studied journalism at Harlow College.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
