I’m A Celebrity star Cliff Parisi spent the first few nights of his life sleeping rough in an East London park after his family were evicted from their home due to a sickening baby sale scheme.
Cliff, 59, was a newborn baby when his teenage parents, Irene and George, were booted from their in London's East End.
They lost their house after their childless landlady cooked up a sick scheme to buy baby Cliff and his year-old sister in exchange for rent.
Irene and George, who were both teenagers at the time, refused to sell their children and lost their home as a consequence.
The family ended up sleeping in Victoria Park in Hackne, before social services were alerted to their plight - and the kids were snatched away from their parents.
Cliff explained: "When my mum came back from hospital with me, she wouldn’t give me or my sister up so the landlady threw us all out.”
"My parents came from big families but they were all cramped in one room.
"No one physically had the space for my parents or they would have taken them in.”
Both kids were taken into care, but Cliff insisted his mum and dad refused to give up their children without a fight.
He said: "Mum and Dad jumped on a bus with us but it was chased by a police car and stopped.
“Me and my sister were ripped from their arms and they were both left sobbing by the side of the road.”
The children were placed in a home in Reading, Berkshire, which was too far away for their cash-strapped parents to visit, but Cliff and his sister were eventually returned to the couple.
He didn't find out the shocking family secret until he was in his 50s, and admits he was disturbed by the revelation.
In Heidi Thomas’s book The Life and Times of Call the Midwife, the actor added: "When my mum told me that story last year, I was quite upset.
"I didn’t know who I felt more sorry for, them or me. It was a bit shocking.”
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