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Richard Wilkins opens up about raising his son with Down syndrome

Becoming a father at 18 was not in the plan for Richard Wilkins, but it turned out to be the greatest gift.
Richard Wilkins talks about his son with down syndrome
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Richard Wilkins is one of the Australian entertainment industryโ€™s most popular personalities, and heโ€™s interviewed everyone whoโ€™s anyone in Hollywood.

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But what many fans of the Today Show star might not know, is that Wilkins is the father of a gorgeous man Adam, who has Down syndrome.

The 64-year-old conceived Adam on the night of his 18th birthday, with his then 16-year-old girlfriend, in New Zealand.

Wilkins opened about his familyโ€™s experience on the Today Show in March last year, on World Down Syndrome Day.

โ€œI was only 18 when Adam was born [and] his mum was just 16, very unusual for Down syndrome people to be born to such young parents. It was a shock to be a parent let alone of a Down syndrome child,โ€ Wilkins told Today Extra hosts Sonia Kruger and David Campbell at the time.

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โ€œIโ€™m prepared to admit that I wasnโ€™t the greatest Dad back in the day. I didnโ€™t really know how to handle it,โ€ he said.

โ€œI was getting on with my life and career, I wanted to travel the world and make music and do that sort of stuff, and it was with some reluctance that after about a year we put Adam in a home.

โ€œPeople said you can have him adopted. But I said โ€˜No he is always going to be my sonโ€™ and I want a relationship with him. He has had great people in his life over the years.โ€

Wilkins went on to describe Adam as โ€œmy rockโ€ and said โ€œto have a down syndrome person in your family is an absolute joy.โ€

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READ NEXT: The Dos and Donโ€™ts on World Down Syndrome Day

Richard was 18 years old when he conceived Adam. (Image: Getty)

Wilkins says itโ€™s a โ€œjoyโ€ having a person with Down syndrome in the family. (Image: Getty)

Adam, now 45, was born in 1972 in the New Zealand city of Palmerston North, where Wilkins had recently completed high school.

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Wilkins has previously opened up about how Adamโ€™s arrival shocked his 18-year-old self.

โ€œBack in those days, hubbies werenโ€™t exactly encouraged to be in the delivery room cutting umbilical cords. But when I first saw Adam, I just instinctively knew,โ€ he told Womanโ€™s Day in 2012.

โ€œI guess it hits you pretty hard โ€” with a thud, actually. I remember having a lot of tests done on me to see what Iโ€™d done wrong. I almost wanted to believe that there was something wrong with me โ€” something that Iโ€™d passed on. But the tests all came back clear as a bell.

โ€œI donโ€™t know what I would have done if I had known in advance that Adam was Down syndrome.

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โ€œWell, I probably do know what we would have done and that would have been a dreadful mistake. Blessings come in unlikely packages and he is such a joy.โ€

Christian Wilkins (L), Richard Wilkins and Adam on the red carpet. (Image: Getty)

Richard Wilkins (R) and his youngest son Christian Wilkins (L) on the red carpet. (Image: Getty)

In 2014, the TV presenter told the Daily Mail that he still feels โ€˜guiltyโ€™ for putting his first son in a home.

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โ€œI still feel guilty for not being there all the time and for not being the pin-up boy for father of the year,โ€ he said.

โ€œHeโ€™s happy and healthy and living in New Zealand, but he wouldnโ€™t be if it wasnโ€™t for people who had helped us along the way.โ€

โ€œI was still there for him any day of the week, but I had to relinquish everyday care to others.โ€

WATCH BELOW: Richard Wilkins talks about his son Christian

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Richard Wilkins praises son Christian in light of Yes vote
Richard Wilkins praises son Christian in light of Yes vote
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Wilkins shares five children with four different mothers โ€“ Adam, 45, Rebecca, 35, Nick, 33, Christian, 23, and Estella, 14, whose mother is fashion designer Collette Dinnigan.

He is currently dating Virginia Burmeister, 52, the ex-wife of investment banker, Mark Burmeister.

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