Kensit 'depressed' by family history

Rex Features

Patsy Kensit has admitted that she was left traumatised after discovering that her grandfather was a criminal.

The actress, whose father was an associate of the notorious Kray twins, investigated her family's past on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?.

She told the Radio Times that she was so shocked to find that her grandfather was jailed for theft that she started binge-eating.

Kensit said: "It hit me so hard, I stopped washing my hair and wearing makeup.

"I was so depressed that I started binge-eating on burgers and pie and mash. I was so scared of how it was affecting me that I said, 'I can't do this anymore' and went home and locked myself away."

Kensit quit the programme and had to be convinced to return to complete the shoot.

The new series of the genealogy show, which starts later this month, also features Jerry Springer and Esther Rantzen.