Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn, 81, sets record straight on claims he slept with over 250 women

Tony
Tony Blackburn on Good Morning Britain Tony didn’t even read the memoir before publishing (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

In a surprising revelation about his raucous youth, Tony Blackburn once claimed he had slept with over 250 women before settling down.

The 81-year-old presenter, who recently lamented the cancellation of Coronation Street, later doubled down on this claim and boosted the number to over 500 women.

However, the veteran radio DJ has now confessed he ‘made up’ his romantic prowess, plucking it out of thin air when writing his memoir.

His ghost-writer, Cheryl Garnsey, decided his life wasn’t salacious enough for his 1985 book Living Legend: Tony Blackburn Story.

‘She [the writer] said she hadn’t got enough sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll,’ he revealed to Radio Times.

The radio legend continued: ‘Well, I don’t do drugs and I made up this number because I was fed up being asked about my personal life. Not my best moment, to be honest.

‘I didn’t read my own autobiography. It was stupid.’

Just seven years after the book was published, he married his second wife Debbie Thompson, with whom he shares daughter Victoria.

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Metro said Tony has two grandsons and also has a son Simon, 50, who he shares with his first wife Tessa Wyatt with whom he was married from 1972 to 1977.

The Wedding of Tony Blackburn and Debbie Thomson
He’s now married to Debbie who he’s been with since 1992 (Picture: Freddie Reed/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Tony, Debbie, and Victoria Blackburn
They share daughter Victoria together(Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

 

Last month, the DJ said he was retiring from his famed show after 15 years with his final show airing on March 24.

The first-ever I’m A Celeb winner hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a return one day, but at the moment he wants to focus on other projects.

In his announcement on X, he added: ‘At some stage, I might come back to BBC Local radio but, for now, I’m going to focus on my @BBCRadio2 shows Sounds Of The Sixties and the Golden Hour and my theatre tour which comes back in March.’