Danny Jones‘ ‘estranged’ father has lifted the lid on their decades-long rift for the first time, revealing he hasn’t seen the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star for 18 years.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Alan Jones, 72, believes a bitter divorce from Danny’s mother Kathy tarnished his relationship with his son, who he describes as a ‘lovely lad’ with a ‘heart of gold’.
He claims they had an ‘excellent’ bond throughout the McFly guitarist’s childhood in Bolton and he ‘dedicated his life’ to helping kick-start his successful music career.
The radio DJ, who now lives in Benidorm with his current wife Sharon, has yet to meet his six-year-old grandson Cooper, who Danny shares with his wife and former Miss England Georgia Horsley – but he is holding out hope that ‘one day it will happen’ and that he’ll ‘finally get that pint with his son’.
Danny, 38, has never visited his father in Spain, where he moved to in 2016, and Alan was not present at his daughter Vicky’s wedding last year.
Alan was also not invited to Danny’s nuptials with Georgia in 2014.
Speaking from his radio station in L’Alfas del Pi, Alan explained how his marriage to Kathy went south when Danny and Vicky left home in the early 2000s.
Danny was in London after signing a record label alongside Tom Fletcher to form the band McFly – which would go on to sell more than 10 million records worldwide.
Danny Jones ‘ ‘estranged’ father, Alan (pictured) has lifted the lid on their decades-long rift for the first time
Danny Jones on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here on November 20
Danny Jones pictured with his mother Kathy – she is divorced from his father Alan
Alan said: ‘It should have been a time where the marriage got a bit closer, but it didn’t.
‘I can’t explain why but it didn’t, so we had two very bad years, and in fact, Danny saw this with his sister and they wrote a song about it… and then I met Sharon and that was it.’
Danny was 19 when Alan walked out on the family in 2005, and has previously revealed how he sought therapy for anxiety over the incident.
He broke down in the jungle this week when discussing his condition with his campmates, revealing how he once had a panic attack during a live TV interview.
Alan met his now-wife as friends in 2004, a year before he left Danny, Kathy and Vicky.
He recalled: ‘This sounds strange, but I used to hang out with a gang of girls who were worse than the blokes, and Sharon was part of that group.
‘We used to go out and get drunk in the town, it was good fun, and me and Sharon got closer and closer.’
It was on the night of January 8, 2005, when their friendship became intimate while Danny and his McFly bandmates made a cameo on BBC1 medical drama Casualty.
He explained: ‘It was the night that Danny was on Casualty, that was the night we actually got together.
‘I was sitting in the pub watching on my own, then all the girls came in and we went into town afterwards and that was it.’
Pictured: Alan Jones’s house in Benidorm, Spain where he has moved with his wife Sharon
Father of McFly’s Danny Jones , Alan Jones pictured with wife Sharon
Danny takes part in the High Street of Horrors bushtucker trial on I’m a Celeb
Father of McFly’s Danny Jones , Alan Jones pictured with wife Sharon
Danny (centre) pictured with his mother Kathy (right)
Danny Jones takes part in the bushtucker trial Mausoleum of Misery on November 17
Alan Jones pictured with Sharon Osbourne
That same year, Alan and Kathy split, causing the ongoing rift in the family, and they still don’t speak.
He added: ‘It was quite a bitter divorce that dragged on far too long.
‘It could have been resolved a good few thousand pounds earlier.’
And it’s Danny’s love for his mother that Alan feels is putting him off rebuilding bridges.
Alan said: ‘I feel as though he’s painted himself into a corner and he doesn’t know how to get out.
‘I think because he loves his mum so much he’s protected her, and I think any reunion with me, and this is only my opinion, would upset his mum, and I don’t think he wants to do that, and I understand that.’
However, Danny has recently insisted that he believes it is his parent Alan’s job to make the first move and get in touch.
He told the Star on Sunday: ‘If you’re a dad then it’s your job to do it. It shouldn’t be my job to do it. It’s his.
‘He decided to have me.’
Alan and Sharon married in 2007 and in 2016, they moved to the picturesque village of Polop, just a 10-minute drive from Benidorm.
The La Alberca resort where they live is mostly made up of two-bedroom, sand-coloured chalets worth up to €250,000, boasting mountain views and a communal swimming pool.
Alan is a DJ and presents a three-hour show on Radio Fresh between 2pm and 5pm, Monday to Friday.
He presents the programme from a humble radio shack situated on a camping site filled with holidaying Brits and Germans, after zipping down from the mountain on his moped.
Alan said it had been his ‘lifelong ambition’ to move to Spain but his then-wife’s successful hairdressing business and managing Danny’s early career put such a move on the back burner.
He said: ‘It’s always been my ambition, but with Danny and my daughter, who at one time was also chasing (record) contracts and what have you, it just never happened. Plus my ex wife had a good hairdressing business, so it would have been silly to walk away from all that.’
Alan met his now-wife Sharon as friends in 2004, a year before he left Danny, Kathy and Vicky
Danny takes part in the bushtucker trial Mausoleum of Misery on November 17
Danny pictured with his mother Kathy – his parents are divorced
Danny was 19 when Alan walked out on the family in 2005, and has previously revealed how he sought therapy for anxiety over the incident
Father of McFly’s Danny Jones – Alan Jones and wife Sharon
Alan insisted he has always been open to repairing his relationship with Danny, saying it had been ‘excellent’ throughout his childhood as he gushed about his talents.
He said: ‘We had a superb bond, I was either taking him to guitar lessons or football.
‘As a kid, Danny was an extremely good footballer, he was chosen to play for Birmingham City at one point, but the logistics of getting him down there for training every night, it didn’t work out and he understood that.
‘But he was absolutely joined at the hip with his guitar, his uncle was a musician and I think a lot of influence came from him.
‘We used to go up to Leeds and stay the weekend and Danny would watch him perform, and at that point he was quite a good guitarist, he had started playing when he was six.
‘When he was 10 or 11, we used to take him to local pubs and he would get up and sing and play his guitar, which was great for character building.’
Alan revealed how kids at school would pick on Danny for being into music and singing.
He said: ‘Because he was a musician, because he would sing and play guitar, I don’t think the other kids could get to grips with it, at one point he was bullied quite a bit and his sister used to back him up, they were at the same school, and she was a godsend, and I think that made him stronger, he built up a strong personality from an early age.’
Speaking on the White Wine Question Time podcast in 2022, Danny said he used to ‘idolise’ his father while growing up, but that it all changed when Alan left.
The guitarist said he stayed close to his mother and still gets ‘angry’ every father’s day.
He also revealed how Alan’s departure sparked his anxiety, which he still seeks therapy for today.
Danny has never met Alan’s now-wife Sharon, a fact that neither side seems eager to change.
However Alan said Sharon has always encouraged him to reach out to Danny and stay in contact.
Danny (left) has never met Alan’s now-wife Sharon, a fact that neither side seems eager to change
Alan and Sharon (pictured) married in 2007 and in 2016, they moved to the picturesque village of Polop, just a 10-minute drive from Benidorm
Alan is a DJ and presents a three-hour show on Radio Fresh between 2pm and 5pm, Monday to Friday
He said: ‘To be quite honest, at one point I was treating this as a lost cause, and it was Sharon that kept making me send the birthday cards, Christmas cards, but she doesn’t want anything to do with the relationship outside of me.’
Alan said he has never met his grandson Cooper but would love to, admitting: ‘I sent Danny a message and wished him happy birthday and he sent me a cracking picture back of Cooper with his birthday cake.
‘I always keep my fingers crossed that one day it will happen, but Danny is in charge of that, not me.
‘I can’t just fly back to England and say ‘Hi, I’m here’, that’s too much for him. I think one day, you know, I always hope it will happen.’
He added: ‘I would say the last time I shook Danny’s hand was about 18 years ago.’
Asked if that was tough for him, Alan said: ‘Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, I really did dedicate my life to… I wouldn’t say getting him to where he is today, but to his start, and his mum did too, she did a lot.’
He said he ‘absolutely’ wishes he was closer to Danny, adding: ‘At the end of the day I can sleep at night, I know he’s okay, he’s safe…
‘But I would like to think if anything bad happened, like an accident or something, that someone would message me to let me know, and I don’t know if that would happen…
‘But hopefully one day we’ll have that pint, sooner rather than later, time’s getting on.’
Alan said he will ‘definitely’ reach out to Danny when he leaves the jungle to congratulate him ‘whatever happens’.
Asked if he had a message for his son he said: ‘Yes… just keep being yourself, keep doing what you’re doing.
‘He’s an amazing guy and I have followed what he’s been doing since I left home and I’ve supported him and stuck up for him if anyone said a bad word.
‘No matter what the outcome, I will tell him ‘you’ve come across as a great guy’, which he is, he’s a lovely lad with a heart of gold.
‘He’s a very talented guy as well, and the beauty of that is it shines through, when you look at the jungle now you see the camaraderie that Danny creates, which I think has come from his time in McFly.
‘I saw all those boys get together and the camaraderie they’ve got is great, and they have supported him through this, so full credit to those guys.’