“I was nervous of what they would find”

Add Who Do You Think You Are? to your watchlist Jess Ennis-Hill promised herself she wouldn’t cry on TV when she agreed to take part in the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? “I’m the kind of person who only cries behind closed doors,” the former golden girl of British athletics says. “When I was competing, I was a poker face. I wouldn’t give too much away.

” But sure enough, she did break down in front of the cameras. And not surprisingly, given what she discovered about her family. We meet at a London studio for Ennis-Hill’s RT photoshoot.

The 38-year-old mother of two is posing in a dazzling red suit and looks as athletic as she did when winning the heptathlon gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. Ennis-Hill, who also won three world championships, has a naturally sunny disposition, but even she has been challenged by the traumatic discoveries. “I didn’t imagine I’d find it so upsetting,” she says.

Even as one of the toughest and most inspirational athletes in British history (the heptathlon consists of seven events over two days: 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m) – she admits she was terrified of taking part in the genealogy series, which is now celebrating its 20th anniversary. “They don’t tell you what you’re about to embark on and what they’ve found. What if they find something awful, like there’s a serial killer in the family? Because they go so far back I was nervous about what they could u.