With celebrity parents Spandau Ballet singer Martin and 80s icon Shirlie, it seemed Roman Kemp was destined to follow them into show business.
Now Capital Radio DJ and I’m a Celebrity’s Roman, 29, is releasing memoir Are You Really OK?, in which he opens up about his mental health, in particular for his friend Joe Lyons, who committed suicide and hopes it will inspire people to share themselves.
In our first extract, Roman reveals all about life with his famous pals...
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t aware my dad was famous. Even when I was little I’d always be able to clock people looking at him.
People often ask how that affected me growing up, and in truth it’s a difficult question to answer, because I don’t have anything to compare it to.
There are times when I’ve loved it. When I was little I’d sometimes revel in the extra attention we’d get, and I’d enjoy showing off that my dad was Steve Owen in EastEnders. We didn’t go to many celebrity parties, but I remember being taken to Liam Gallagher’s house one time, and I thought that was very cool. Not because I knew much about Oasis back then, but because Liam gave me some Star Wars toys!
I’m very fortunate with the people that I’ve been able to claim as friends in this oh-so-fickle industry.
Ed Sheeran is such a decent guy and someone I’ll turn to for advice about my career. For someone with that unbelievable level of success he’s the most down-to-earth person you can imagine.
For me, Harry Styles has now reached superstar status, he’s the next David Bowie or Mick Jagger I reckon. He’ll have staying power. But what I love doing best with Harry is playing football in the park. Niall Horan plays too, then we’ll get some food in Camden. None of this VIP s**t. Harry’s a very grounded guy.
Lewis Capaldi is a top bloke – but a bit of a liability in my life. Every time he is in town and wants to go out I will be like, ‘Oh, go on then.’ And it sometimes gets messy. At one point I’d get a drunken FaceTime call from him at least once a week at about 4am.
But he’s such a great guy. Like Ed, he doesn’t let his success change him.
I’ve also been lucky enough to meet and work with several members of the Royal Family over the years.
The first person I met was Prince William in 2015. I think the Duke of Cambridge is amazing for the way he’s talked about his own mental health over the years, to have someone of that status being frank about their struggles was brave and deserves massive respect.
We were teamed up with Rio Ferdinand and some others back then for work on a programme called Heads Together, and I took my mate Charlie.
Charlie had lost his mum to breast cancer when he was young, and I had this surreal, very moving moment of watching my best mate talk to Prince William. Both had gone through that terrible loss and grief so youngs.
Before I met Prince William, I was given a whole protocol to follow. It was a regal situation, and I started worrying whether I was meant to bow and what I was supposed to do.
I was told to address him as Your Highness and advised where to stand, how to act, all that sort of thing. But there was a football match on telly going on in the corner of the room and it had just finished.
It was a bit of a crazy game and Prince William came walking over to say hello just as it was wrapping up.
Everything I’d been advised on Royal protocol suddenly went out the window and so the first words I said to our future king were, “F***ing hell mate, that was mad!” I then panicked, worrying I’d just sworn at him!
Luckily, he just laughed. After that, formalities were forgotten.
The next year I got a letter from Prince Harry inviting me to work at the Palace as a DJ for one of the garden parties which was open to some of the public. I took my mum as I knew she would be so excited. We still have a picture of us both beaming. I think it was one of my mum’s proudest days. She got all dressed up and looked beautiful. For me, that’s a moment that I’ll never forget. I’ve got a lot of unforgettable moments with my dad, through working together, it was lovely to have that one special moment with Mum.
One of the most surprising things was that it wasn’t remotely glamorous inside the Palace. We were given a bedroom upstairs to get ready in, and as soon as we walked in all I could think was, ‘This is just like my nan’s house!’ It had a single bed pushed up against the corner of this tiny little room, and terrible old-lady style wallpaper.
It felt surreal to be there. I’d gone from creating YouTube videos in my bedroom the year before to DJ-ing at Buckingham Palace.
Later, Prince Harry beckoned me over. “Roman, come here,” he said. Kate Middleton was there and there was a slingshot in the middle of them. They had a bucket filled with water balloons, and were pinging them into the crowd from a balcony.
Prince Harry tried to coax me into firing at Prince William. “What is going on?” I laughed. Harry said, “Aim a bit to the left.” “Who am I aiming for?” I asked, and he said, “My brother!” I didn’t want to be done for treason, I joked – but Prince Harry has a cheeky sense of humour you can’t help warming to.
- Are You Really OK? by Roman Kemp is published by Mirror Books, £18.99 and released on Wednesday, October 27.
