Celtic ace Anthony Stokes in family shocker as secret mum is revealed

CELTIC striker Anthony Stokes is battling to cope with emotional turmoil after his aunt revealed that she is actually his mother.

The £1million Irish star’s family were rocked when Ann Byrne told how she gave up her son at the age of three to her sister.

And yesterday the man 23-year-old Stokes describes as his dad admitted the revelations had caused heartbreak in the family.

Ann, 50, told how she handed her son – christened Anthony Byrne – to her sister Joan and her husband John Stokes in 1991 when he was three because she was struggling to cope.

Speaking about her gut -wrenching decision, Ann, of Dublin, said: “You have to love a child to do it. You have to think about the child, and what’s best for them.

“That’s why nothing ever really bothers me because I know I did it for the right reasons.

“I understand why I did it and so does Anthony, and that’s all that matters. We have a good relationship and he has always known he was adopted by my sister and her husband. It was never hidden.’

“John and Joan have been so good to my family. I never would have given him to anyone else.”

She added: “I often think of other mums who have given their kids up – it’s not one bit easy for anyone.

“It was so heartbreaking for me, it broke my heart, but what can you do? I can’t change it now.

“He was a lively little boy and I had great help from my sister. She lived next door for a while so I’d only have to call her and she’d help me.

“You have to do your best for the kids and that’s why I’m OK because I know he is too. He is doing really well and the kids all get on.”

Anthony was Ann’s third child and she revealed he has two full biological siblings. Her oldest child Geraldine was born in September 1980 in Dublin and Anthony’s older brother Michael was born in 1985.

But yesterday Stokes’s adoptive dad John, who is really his uncle, admitted: “It has caused a lot of trouble at home and caused a lot of problems for my own family.

“Some of them found out about it secondhand and that’s not the way we would have wanted them to find out.”

A source said: “The family wanted to keep things within the circle. But Anthony loves them all and still regards John as his dad.

“His sister has been to Scotland a few times to watch him play.”