'It attacks your self-esteem: Paul Hogan's son reveals how he and his siblings struggled with the trappings of fame after his father shot to success

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One of Paul Hogan's sons has broken his silence on the struggles he and his siblings faced growing up after their father shot to sudden national fame. 

The larrikin Sydney Harbour Bridge rigger from the city's west became an instant star in 1971 when he entered television talent show New Faces to make fun of the judges.

Then aged in his 30s, Hogan's natural ability as a comedian saw him quickly become a national celebrity with regular appearances on Mike Willesee's A Current Affair.

Within a year, Hogan moved his wife Noelene and five young children from their modest Chullora home in Sydney's south-west to the affluent north shore suburb of Mosman.

As the man that helped put Australia on the map looks back on his showbusiness career spanning almost five decades, Hogan's third child Todd has spoken publicly for the first time on the impact his father's sudden fame had on him and his siblings.

Paul Hogan and wife Noelene had five children together. They're pictured with their oldest two children Scott and Loren

'It attacks your self-esteem when no one's interested in what you're doing, when they're constantly asking you about what someone else is doing,' Todd told ABC's Australian Story.

'Everything became, 'Oh, is he really your father?' It's not a normal question and so that irked me, and usually people who brought it up I sort of gave short shrift to.' 

Todd was 10 when his family moved from Chullora to Mosman. 

'We were entrenched in the western suburbs and I loved it there,' Todd said in a sneak preview for Monday night's program.

'I had a great childhood there and just remember that we were going to move away from all our mates and go and live in Mosman, which is some place I'd never heard of and didn't particularly want to go to.' 

Hogan's third son Todd (pictured) has spoken publicly about his upbringing for the first time

The Hogans later moved to Sydney's northern beaches- first to Seaforth and later Belrose.

Despite the move and his growing fame, Hogan tried to make life as normal as possible for his kids, as did then wife Noelene.

'She was Carol Brady, I suppose. You know, it was chops on Monday, sausages on Tuesday — we all knew what was coming,' Todd recalled.

'It's only been in recent years Todd has looked back on his father's career with a more positive light.

'As you become more comfortable in your own skin you can look back and say, 'God, what a career. What a great career he had', and be proud of him,' he said.

'I'm amazed by it. But I wouldn't tell anybody that until I was probably about the age I am now. I don't think I've told anyone that before, actually.'

Born and bred in western Sydney, Hogan shot to fame while working as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

In a two part series looking back on his career, Hogan himself, now almost 80,  acknowledged the toll his overnight fame had on his family.

'It was hard for all my kids, thrust into a limelight that they didn't invite,' he says. 

'So as much as we could, we left it at the gate.'

In his early days of fame on A Current Affair, Hogan began a lifelong friendship with the show's producer John Cornell, who later became Hogan's manager and business partner. 

Cornwell and wife Delvene Delaney remain close friends with Hogan.

Delaney recalled how Paul and Noelene maintained a normal household for their children, despite the glitz and glamour that came with Hogan's career.

Todd Hogan said his mother Noelene (pictured) tried to make life as normal as possible

Paul Hogan, who turns 80 next month, looked back on his career for Australian Story

Born in Lightning Ridge in NSW's north-west, Hogan's family later moved to Granville in western Sydney, when Hogan grew up and left school at 15. 

He met and married Noelene Edwards in his teens and already had three children by the time he was 22. 

Hogan and Noelene first married in 1958, and were together for more than 20 years until they separated and divorced in 1981. 

Less than a year later the pair, who have five children together, remarried, however divorced again in 1986 after Hogan met and fell in love with his much younger co-star Linda Kozlowski on the set of Crocodile Dundee, which went on to become a box office blockbuster.

Hogan starred in an ad campaign for Winfield cigarettes as his career took off in the 1970s

Hogan, pictured with his second wife Linda Kozlowski will turn 80 next month

It was revealed in 2016 that Hogan and Noelene didn't speak for 17 years following their breakup.

Hogan and Kozlowski married in 1990 and later had son Chance.

Kozlowski filed for divorce from Hogan in 2013, although they remain amicable. 

Part one of Australian Story's A Fortunate Life airs on ABC on Monday night at 8pm.

Hogan (pictured ) went from a Sydney Harbour Bridge rigger to a national celebrity in the 70s