Mark Wright co-star forced onto streets after eviction with alcoholic mum
She has been lighting up the airwaves for the past 20 years - but Londoner Pandora Christie, as she reveals to OK!, has overcome the worst kind of heartache imaginable to get there. Pandora, who recently teamed up with fellow DJ and good friend Mark Wright for a Heart Live in Ibiza event at Café Mambo, is at the top of her game and happily loved-up with her boyfriend of six years - but heartbreakingly, was once living on the street with her alcoholic mother.
The radio presenter, 42, who hosts Heart's mid-morning weekday show, experienced homelessness as a child, though she has defied the odds to build a successful career and own her own home. Pandora was just five years old when she and her mum, an alcoholic who suffered from depression, were evicted from their house in London and became homeless.
She recalls: 'We'd sleep in alleyways, on park benches, behind trees. I didn't even realise how bad things were at the time. Mum protected me from it,' she says. 'She'll always be my hero for that.'
But there was more heartache ahead as, aged nine, Pandora also witnessed the death of her mother - a moment which she admits shaped her passion for mental health awareness and foster care - and led to her becoming a staunch ambassador for the Fostering Network, the Care Leaver Covenant and the National Fostering Group.
Recalling the heartrenching moment she lost her mum, Pandora says, 'She was on the sofa. At first I thought she was joking, trying to make me laugh like she always did. She was always trying to cheer me up. But then she started convulsing and I froze. I didn't realise what was happening until her eyes rolled back and she started frothing at the mouth. That's when I screamed for my brother and we called for an ambulance.
'Mum always tried to protect me, even when she was struggling. She suffered from depression, but back then no one spoke about mental health. People just hid it. That's why I speak about it now — because others couldn't.'
Pandora later found stabililty and a happy home life with foster parents Tony and Ruby Hoyte, a couple from southeast London, saved Pandora 'from a life on park benches and in police cells' – and they supported her and her dreams. 'When they heard I wanted to be a DJ, they helped me in every way possible,' she says
Given her own past experiences, Pandora says she would like to foster or adopt a teenager, though she hasn't ruled out having biological children. 'My maternal instinct has come later in life,' she admits. 'If it happens, that'd be amazing. If it doesn't, that's okay, too. I feel really at peace with whatever life brings.'
And Pandora hasn't let her desperately tough start in life define her. 'I've always said, 'Do not let your past determine your future.' It doesn't matter how bad things seem now — if you've got passion and drive, you can overcome anything."
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