I don't want to pry into anyone's childhood, especially if it might have been a difficult one. I don't think that's any of our business. I also don't want to draw their extended family or their - albeit now adult - children into this.
I recognise that all human beings are flawed. We all make mistakes, some small, some large and for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad. People can and do change. Many of us have wanted to leave the past behind us and to change history or the narrative. We might lie, at least by omission, or change certain details, to protect our privacy or the privacy or others, or because we feel guilty, embarrassed or ashamed. Just because someone is in the public eye doesn't mean that we are entitled to know everything about them, their past and their family's past.
And yet I believe The Observer articles and they have left me feeling misled and disappointed. That is why I started this thread. I wouldn't have started it unless the articles had been written by a respected investigative journalist. I would like to know the truth, up to the point that it is reasonable to know it, about the story and about the people who have sold me their story and asked me to buy into it.