Raised by single mum Maryanne in council housing in Sydney’s inner west, Anthony ‘Albo’ Albanese was heartbroken when she passed from a brain aneurism in 2002.
WATCH: Anthony Albanese gets grilled by Tom Gleeson on The Weekly’s Hard Chat
“Mother’s Day was the day my mum went to hospital and never came back,” the Labor leader wrote on Instagram in 2021.
After flying back to Sydney from Canberra to take his mum out for lunch, Albo knew instantly that something wasn’t right.
“The front door had been left open,” he wrote. After decades of health problems, Maryanne was rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where she spent two weeks before sadly passing.
“Around every Mother’s Day, I visit the cemetery where mum is and I remember how much she sacrificed for me.”
Anthony grew up believing his dad, Carlo, died in a car accident. When he turned 14, his mum told him the truth – which the ALP leader candidly spoke about on ABC’s 7:30 – that she fell pregnant to Carlo after meeting him overseas, but when Maryanne revealed she was expecting, he said he was betrothed to someone from his Italian hometown.
“When mum told me, I was very much, ‘Well, he chose not to be part of my life. I don’t need anything from him’,” he confided in The Australian Women’s Weekly.
When Maryanne told her son that Carlo might still be alive if Albo wanted to search for him, the politician was quick to shut the suggestion down.
“That was something I think she needed to hear,” he continued. “I didn’t want to disrespect her and I think if I’d said, ‘Yeah, I need to find him immediately,’ it would have been saying she wasn’t enough. And she was enough for me.”
It wasn’t until he was standing at his mum’s grave and his own son, Nathan, questioned his grandfather’s whereabouts that he felt he should seek out his father.
“I felt, not just for me, but for Nathan as well, that he needed to know where his grandfather was.”
The ALP leader welcomed Nathan with his now-ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt in the year 2000.
When Carmel ended her and Anthony’s marriage on New Year’s Day in 2019, the politician was blindsided, but has gone on to find love with his current partner, Jodie Haydon.
After the split, Nathan spent time with both parents, but has been largely based with his dad.
Just as his mum dreamed of a better, fairer, world for her son, the ALP leader hopes to pave a better future for his son Nathan, who prefers to keep out of the public eye.
In December 2021, the ALP leader shared a tribute to his son as he reached a milestone age of 21.
“Very proud of our Nathan who celebrates his 21st birthday today 🥳🎂,” Albo wrote on Instagram.
Following the ALP victory in the most recent federal election, newest Prime Minister Albo shared his gratitude for his son Nathan and partner Jodie.
“Thank you for coming into my life and for sharing this journey,” he said on stage.
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