'I was in the shadow': Lancashire's Charlotte Dawson & Claudia Fogarty talk famous dads

Blackburn born Claudia Fogarty and Blackpool born Charlotte Dawson are now well known figures in their own right.

The former, 31-year-old Claudia, rose to fame in 2023 when she appeared in the winter series of ITV2’s Love Island, and two years after that appearance, the certified reformer pilates instructor still boasts just shy of half a million Instagram followers.

Charlotte on the other hand first appeared on MTV’s Ex on the Beach back in 2016 and since then has become a popular influencer - amassing 1.5 million Instagram followers-, an actress - she frequently performs in pantomimes on the Fylde Coast - and a podcast host thanks to the launch of ‘Charlotte's Naughty Corner’ in 2024.

The two women however were never destined for a life of anonymity, both of course having extremely famous dads - the motorcycle racer and I’m A Celebrity winner Carl Fogarty, and legendary comic Les Dawson respectively.

Talk of their famous dads came up this week when Claudia, who last month welcomed her first child, Delilah, appeared on Charlotte's podcast to reveal all about her new life as a parent.

Before getting to that bit however, 33-year-old Charlotte went straight to addressing the obvious.

The former Arnold School & Queen Mary School pupil said. “I feel like we've got a bit in common with our dads because obviously your dad is Carl Fogarty, the one and only Carl Fogarty… he's fabulous! So yeah, tell me about him ‘cause I obviously grew up as like Les Dawson's daughter. I was kind of in like the shadow and it was like, I got bullied at school really bad.”

Claudia, who attended Westholme School, replied: “Did you? Are you joking? I never knew that.”

Charlotte then said: “Well, because my dad's, it might be different for you, because my dad wasn't here…I just feel like people are always like, say if I was in like Hello Magazine or Okay Magazine or something about my dad, it was like, ‘oh, who does she think she is?’, ‘She's only Les Dawson's daughter’. Just stupid stuff like that.”

Claudia too then revealed that having a famous dad wasn’t always great.

She said: “Do you know what? I got that, I think more growing up. Like when I was at uni and things like that, people judge you because you're kind of like, I mean, I went to a private girl's school. I think that was a little bit different, but then you go somewhere like university and you're thrown into this different world and everyone's like ‘who does she think she is?’ Or, ‘oh, she's walking around’, ‘oh, who's your dad?’

“And it was at the time when my dad was going in the jungle and I got different like looks and people like ‘oh, just because your dad's famous’. That was what I used to get: ‘ just because your dad's famous’.”

“That's what I used to get” interjects Charlotte.

Claudia then continues: “Shut up, like, what's that got to do with anything?”

Charlotte added: “‘Oh, you think your dad's famous?’ I'm like ‘shuff off, you're only jealous. You're only jealous! You want a bloody slice, you want to be in Hello Magazine, don't you?’

After the pair break into giggles, Claudia then concludes: “People judge you for being like someone famous's daughter. It is annoying. I'm no different to anybody else. We all go the toilet the same, right? We all p*** the same, we all s*** the same. I'm sorry, it p****** me off.”

The conversation next moved on to talk about how both mums found their respective all girl schools.

Whilst Claudia was used to the all girls life at Westholme- having started there in Year 1-, self proclaimed boy loving Charlotte revealed moving from her mixed gender Blackpool school to single sex Casterton School in Cumbria was her punishment for misbehaving!

On the topic of parenthood, Claudia then shared all the things she’s excited to do with her newborn daughter when she’s older, including watching old Disney films.

Although little Delilah was only born on September 30, Claudia revealed the family had already booked to take her away to Disneyland next May- with the reality star admitting: “We’re going for us really!”

Claudia even divulged how her partner, Preston born footballer Ollie Crankshaw, wants three kids so it looks their future Disney trips may get even more manic in the upcoming years!

You can can listen to the full podcast here.