Prue Leith appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday to talk about helping her adopted daughter find her biological parents in Cambodia for a new documentary.
The 80-year-old Bake Off star had said she was reticent to go to Cambodia at first because they ‘nearly killed her daughter’ but said the experience was a positive one.
Prue said: ‘When I married my husband, [the late Rayne Kruger], he had already brought up three children with his first wife and he didn’t want kids.
‘I didn’t like Cambodia, they nearly killed my child’: Bake Off’s Prue Leith spoke to GMB on Tuesday about helping adopted daughter Li-Da to find her biological parents
Special bond: Prue, pictured alongside Li-Da, adopted her daughter when she was just 16 months old
‘I wanted two kids we came to an agreement, he worked in Thailand and China and he said we could adopt from there.’
They had a biological son called Daniel, now a key aide to Boris Johnson and adopted Li-Da, 46, when she was just 16 months old.
Prue said: ‘We had one homemade bread and one adopted bread. She was saved from the from the Khmer rouge Pol Pot regime.
Family: Prue already had one-year-old son Daniel with late husband Rayne Kruger, when she decided she wanted another child. Pictured with daughter-in-law Emma in October 2010
Li -Da knew little about her biological family – her parents were thought to be victims of Cambodia’s killing fields, in which more than a million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.
She said: ‘I grew up with this story that my mother had been killed by a rocket attack and my father was a soldier who was injured and had to leave me in an orphanage somewhere, [however she did not know if this was true.]
‘I left the country with my birth certificate and adoption papers… there was a nurse who organised my adoption literally days before… weeks before they [Khmer Rouge] took power.’
Tragic: Li -Da knew little about her biological family – her parents were thought to be victims of Cambodia’s killing fields, in which more than a million people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979
![She said: ' I grew up with this story that my mother had been killed by a rocket attack and my father was a soldier who was injured and had to leave me in an orphanage somewhere'[however she did not know if this was true.]](https://i1.wp.com/i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/04/14/09/27166536-8216739-image-a-5_1586852454254.jpg?resize=634%2C357&ssl=1)
She said: ‘ I grew up with this story that my mother had been killed by a rocket attack and my father was a soldier who was injured and had to leave me in an orphanage somewhere'[however she did not know if this was true.]
She admits she had tried to find her biological family for years but had no luck.
She said: ‘I started looking researching my story 20 years ago and I hit brick walls and I kind of felt that well it’s fine.
‘But then I realised when filling in the adaption forms to adopt our son that these details are important to our identity and also the realisation that I’m not getting any younger and everyone in my story may not be around much longer so it’s about doing it before it’s too late.’
Li-Da wanted Prue, who married her second husband John Playfair in 2016 after Rayne died in 2002, to be involved with her journey.
Searching: Li-Da admits she had tried to find her biological family for years but had no luck
Prue said: ‘Li-Da wanted me to understand why she was so obsessed with finding her parents and Cambodia. I love her and she wanted me to go there… I don’t like Cambodia, they very nearly killed my daughter and then I went there and it’s an amazing country’
Prue said: ‘I’m such a practical go ahead kind of person, and Li-Da wanted me to understand why she was so obsessed with finding her parents and Cambodia.
‘I love her and she wanted me to go there… I don’t like Cambodia, they very nearly killed my daughter and then I went there and it’s an amazing country.
‘The people are so positive… we found lots of things, we had a wonderful researcher, that’s the great thing about modern life. When she first tried to find them she didn’t have access to DNA testing, or afford a researcher but then we could do that.’
And now Li-Da has her adopted son by her side Prue has said it’s been hard not seeing him during the lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Interesting: GMB host Piers Morgan was very interested in this tale of love and family
Li-Da and her husband Matt spent four years trying to become parents through the process, before finally welcoming a one-year-old son into their home in March 2019.
She said: ‘I see a lot of my grandson on FaceTime and all I can say is he’s not really interested in me.
‘He wants to see the dogs, I see him every day so Li-Da calls me because he’s very young, only two years old, and all he says is “woof”.’
And Li-Da had some lovely words to say about Prue.
She said: ‘I’m very proud of my mum but I think most daughters are proud of their mums. I had an amazing life with my mum and family I had no complaints.’
Prue Leith: Journey with my Daughter is on Tuesday April 14, 9pm, Channel 4