Jimmy Barnes Explains 10-Year Secret About David Campbell
jimmy barnes said he kept David Campbell’s paternity secret for 10 years before the boy was told he was his father when he was 10. Speaking at 70 on ABC show The Assembly, Barnes described the decision as “very complicated” and said the family secrecy stretched from the day Campbell was born.
Barnes said he was 16 when David was born and that he “wasn’t capable of being a decent parent at that age and for a long time.” He also said he kept close enough for his son to know who he was, while the family’s version of events held that he was a Scottish uncle.
The Assembly and Barnes
“You know, I didn’t just waltz back into David’s life when he was 10 and say, ‘Hey, I’m your dad!’.” Barnes said on The Assembly. He added, “I was going to see David from the day he was born, but he didn’t know who I was,” and said Campbell’s maternal grandmother “made a point of ensuring his true identity remained a secret.”
Barnes said the arrangement became harder to sustain as he got more famous, which is the part that turns a private family decision into a public one. A secret can stay contained when a child is small; fame makes every silence more costly, and Barnes said that pressure helped push the eventual disclosure.
David Campbell at 10
When Campbell was told at 10, Barnes said his wife pushed the family to end the deception: “Look, he needs to know.” Barnes said, “And I think that was a mistake,” about the grandmother keeping the identity hidden, a blunt admission that the long concealment shaped the family before anyone could address it openly.
“He was reeling for a long time, and I think music, like me, saved his life,” Barnes said of Campbell’s reaction. That is the sharpest line in the story: the revelation did not simply settle a family question, it left Campbell needing time to absorb a truth that had been withheld for a decade.
2019 and now
Barnes also told the ABC in 2019 that “We started off rocky because – let’s face it – I was 16 when David was born and it was a tough time for all of us.” He added, “We weren’t ready to deal with ourselves, let alone having a child come along,” which matches the explanation he gave on The Assembly and gives the family timeline a clear reason for the delay.
For readers, the practical takeaway is simple: Barnes has now put a public frame around a private choice that shaped David Campbell’s childhood, and he has done it without softening the consequences. The story ends where it should — with the cost of the secret, not with the explanation for it.
