He’s the handsome young actor tipped to be the next James Bond who has just formed one of the world’s hottest celebrity couples thanks to his marriage to Dua Lipa.
Callum Turner has repeatedly given credit to his ‘best friend’ mother who, as a single parent, despite living on a tough London council estate, had the grit to give him the upbringing that set him on the path to global success.
But little has ever been publicly known about the father who walked out on them both when Callum, 36, was just a toddler – until today.
Now, the Daily Mail can tell for the first time the full, extraordinary story of Callum’s family – and reveal how he has a ‘mini-me’ brother and sister that fans know nothing about.
But first we need to roll the clock back to his birth in west London on February 15, 1990.
Callum’s mother, as he has told so many times, was Rosemary Turner, now 70, and an award-winning female role model, but then she was a young bohemian queen of London’s party scene.
His little known father, we can reveal, was Rosemary’s younger then boyfriend, a plasterer from Hammersmith, named Laurence Coles, known to friends as Larry, who also loved the city’s nightlife.
It’s unclear how long Rosemary and Larry were together or if they ever even co-habited but they certainly didn’t marry and at birth Callum was given his mother’s surname rather than his father’s.
On Callum’s birth certificate it states that his mother and father were living at separate addresses at the time.
Callum Turner has previously told of his ‘loose’ relationship with his father – but has never publicly named him. Today, the Daily Mail can reveal his dad is Laurence Coles (pictured)
When talking about his childhood, Callum said his ‘best friend’ is his mother, former nightclub promoter Rosemary Turner (pictured) who raised him on a tough London council estate
When he was growing up in south London, it was just Callum and his mother Rosemary – but in that time his father Larry moved to Australia and had two more children – Callum’s little known about half siblings, Louis and his sister Clemmie (pictured)
Callum is pictured here with his football mad younger half brother, Louis, who like Callum, supports Chelsea
Whatever happened between the couple thereafter though, the relationship quickly foundered and Rosemary was soon left alone with a very young son, living in a council flat on the World’s End estate in Chelsea.
Money was so tight that Callum couldn’t afford match tickets to watch his beloved Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge stadium, so he’d stay in on Saturday afternoons, throw open the windows and listen to the roars echoing across the skyline.
He first wanted to be a soldier, then dreamed of being a professional footballer and playing for his beloved Chelsea.
Meanwhile Rosemary juggled being a single mother with jobs as a promoter and on the door of various venues across London’s then vibrant nightclub scene, including the legendary Ministry of Sound.
She couldn’t rely on any support from Callum’s father whatsoever – because he had moved to the other side of the world to begin a new life in Australia.
Callum would later tell how instead of a conventional father figure he had the role fulfilled by a revolving cast of often gay men who Rosemary befriended in that world.
The famous clubland figure Steve Strange – of Visage ‘Fade to Grey’ fame – lived with Rosemary and young Callum for a spell.
Meanwhile, far away from the UK, Larry would soon completely reinvent himself in Sydney.
Despite a non-academic background – having previously worked as a plasterer in London’s building trade – he qualified there as a psychotherapist.
He began dating aspirational business owner Petrina Angus, who runs a high-end company making cushions from Irish linen.
Callum’s father Larry is listed as being a plasterer on his birth certificate, but since then has retained as a psychotherapist.. When his relationship to Callum’s mother collapsed he moved to Australia, married a businesswoman. He is now back living in the UK, in East Sussex
Callum has previously spoken of how, instead of a conventional father figure, he had the role fulfilled by a revolving cast of often gay men who Rosemary befriended in the nightclub world
It’s unclear how much Larry kept in touch with his son during this period – Callum has only described his childhood relationship with his father living 10,000 miles away as ‘loose’.
But it was his father’s next act that would be most impactful: now in a serious relationship with that businesswoman, Petrina, Larry soon started a second family.
In the mid-1990s, the couple had two children, Louis and Clemmie, younger half-siblings to Callum.
Yet instead of cementing Callum’s separateness from his father as might have been expected, the birth of the two children seems to have begun the process of bringing them close together.
Because the three siblings met up regularly during their childhoods and teens, often on visits to London.
And Callum’s big brother influence is plain to see in both: Louis has grown up Chelsea and football mad too, while Clemmie has followed him into an acting career.
She also soon followed him to London, where she has been based since training at the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 2019.
But the single biggest factor in finally bringing father and son closer together as adults has been Larry’s return, after almost three decades down under, to the UK.
Larry, now 66 and once again single, lives in a period flat in a smart garden square in fashionable Hastings on the east Sussex coast, from where he practices his therapy.
Friends locally know Larry as a ‘lovely chilled out bloke’ who is now in regular contact with the son he once saw only occasionally through long haul trips. And he is, they say, unashamedly proud of Callum.
One told us: ‘I know about Callum because Larry’s mentioned him a few times. He seems to be quite proud of him but I don’t know how close they are.
‘Larry’s gone up to London a few times to visit Callum but I’ve never seen Callum with him. Larry is a lovely, chilled out bloke who will do anything for anyone, a heart of gold.’
Larry even hosted all three of his children – together with his oldest son’s celebrity girlfriend – for a pub Christmas dinner last December.
And Louis and Clemmie attended Callum’s spectacular Sicilian wedding – with Clemmie’s inner circle status confirmed by her also being invited to Dua’s hen do.
Larry is believed to have been invited, although the Mail has been unable to confirm his attendance.
Despite Larry moving to the other side of the world when Callum was just a toddler, the two appear to be close and they are often seen in photos at family get togethers
Clemmie has followed her brother Callum into an acting career – and moved to London where she has been based since training at the prestigious Central School of Speech and Drama
Louis and Callum smile for the camera on one of Louis’s visits to see his older brother in the UK
The siblings have remained close as their dad has made frequest efforts to get them together
Callum has also previously taken various other holidays with his half-siblings, including trips to Tokyo and Rome. Here Callum (left) is pictured on one such trip with Louis and Clemmie
Now single and back licing on the East Sussex coast in a flat, neighbours describe him as a ‘lovely, chilled out bloke’. His children from Australia attended Callum’s Sicilian wedding
Larry has met Callum’s wife Dua Lipa and he is believed to have been invited to their wedding in Sicily. He hosted all three of his children – and the singer – for Christmas dinner in December
Clemmie was duly pictured partying at the pre-wedding girls’ weekend in Ibiza in May – after previously joining Dua and Callum on a group trip to Paris in early spring.
Meanwhile Louis was alongside his sister on a big friends’ trip to Ibiza with Dua and Callum last year.
Callum has also previously taken various other holidays with his half-siblings, including trips to Tokyo and Rome.
Larry has also frequently shared both family photos featuring and film posters of his once semi-estranged son, as well as videos of his new popstar daughter-in-law performing onstage.
Rosemary meanwhile has lately been more widely recognised, partly as a result of Callum bigging her up in interviews but also for her achievements professionally.
Because, in a curious echo of her old ex-boyfriend’s life journey, she too finally gave up the party lifestyle to…train as a psychotherapist.
She founded her own company, Counselling for Life, four years ago and it was in this context that she won an award at last year’s Global Women’s Summit.
Callum started dating his now wife Dua after meeting in January 2024 at a party in Los Angeles – and the pair are now officially married as of May following a civil ceremony.
They first had a legal wedding with Dua at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London before jetting off to Sicily for a star-studded three-day ceremony with some 200 guests in Palermo, which was rumoured to cost £1.5million.
Dua was given away by her father Dukagjin, who also acts as her manager while Callum’s beloved mother Rosemary was also handed a ‘special’ role at the weddings.
Dua and Callum were supported by close family before jumping into the back of a black cab and embracing as they were whisked away to start married life together.
The wedding only lasted between 30 and 40 minutes and Callum grinned boyishly as he held his new wife’s hand and walked her down the steps as confetti rained down.
Ahead of their main ceremony in Sicily, insiders hailed the couple’s nuptials as the ‘showbiz wedding of the year’ – and said they expect the couple to start their own family soon.
Dua Lipa and Clemmie have formed a close bond – so much so that she joined Dua and Callum on a group trip to Paris in early spring
Clemmie’s inner circle status was confirmed when she was pictured partying with Dua at the pre-wedding girls’ weekend in Ibiza in May
Louis was alongside his sister Clemmie on a big friends’ trip to Ibiza with Dua and Callum
Following his breakthrough role in a 2015 BBC production of War and Peace, Callum’s acting career has gone from strength to strength through parts in the Fantastic Beasts series, Emma and Spielberg’s WWII drama Masters of the Air.
Now he is increasingly being offered his pick of top film roles. Indeed he is making such waves professionally that he has become the bookies’ favourite in recent months, overtaking previous forerunners Aaron Taylor-Johnson, James Norton and Idris Elba.
Callum is taking such strides with the full support of his family – which turns out to be much larger and more complicated than his fans ever realised. But it’s clearly a happy one.
