Michael Caine had a half-brother his mother kept secret for 50 years: 'I went to go see him'

MICHAEL CAINE THEN VS. NOW

Michael Caine is a renowned actor across the world, some of his works include The Dark Night (2008), Now You See Me (2013), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and many many more. Like many actors, Michael Caine is a stage name, his real name is Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, however, in 2016, he legally changed his name to Michael Caine to make airport security easier.

Discover our latest podcast

Caine has a younger brother Stanley. It wasn’t until after his mother, Ellen, passed away in 1989 that he discovered his family was slightly bigger than he realised. In an interview in 2002, Michael Caine revealed that his mother had kept a secret for over 50 years and no one knew.

Michael Caine has a half-brother

As reported by Express, Michael Caine, who announced his retirement in 2023, discovered he had a half-brother on his mother’s side when he was almost 60. His mother, Ellen Burchwell kept him a secret all her life and even to her grave.

In an interview with Michael Parkinson on his show Parkinson, in 2002, Michael revealed that he discovered he had a secret brother by pure chance. He explained that an article was being written about the state of mental health establishments in England.

According to Express, a reporter was chatting to residents at a facility and one of them claimed her boyfriend was Michael Caine’s brother. The actor was then contacted by the newspaper running the piece to inform him about his secret brother and that the story would be published over the weekend.

Caine told Parkinson that he went to see him:

I went to go see him, to see if he was alright.

Michael Caine’s mother visited her secret son every week

Michael Caine learned that his half-brother, David, had been born out of wedlock six years before his mother met his father, Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. The actor told The Belfast Telegraph that she ‘obviously had an affair’ and ‘hid the boy’.

As per Express, David was born healthy and put into foster care, however, he became disabled after suffering an epileptic fit. Due to this, he was declared mentally unwell and was institutionalised in a hospital facility.

What happened was, he was born okay, but medically he was treated badly and something went wrong. My mother kept her secret for 30 years. She went every week and visited him and none of us never knew. My dad knew nothing about this whatsoever.

Caine revealed that his mother had visited David every week. He recalled spending time at his aunt’s house with his brother, Stanley every Monday so their mother could go ‘shopping’. In reality, his mother was visiting her other son.

I felt absolute amazement, how she fooled us all for 50 years, every Monday.

As reported by Unilad, David knew Michael Caine was his brother as their mother had given him a photograph of Caine from his film Zulu. Caine revealed how his mother had been able to keep the secret for so long.

He explained that a matron had said Ellen would bring a Bible at every visit and any new nurses on the ward had to swear on the Bible to keep David’s parentage a secret. Sadly, Michael only got 18 months with his half-brother before he died in 1992.

In his autobiography, Caine wrote that his mother would do anything for her sons, explaining that it was likely because she couldn't do much for one of them.