Strictly’s Anton Du Beke reveals he was stabbed by his dad
Anton Du Beke has spoken out about his dad stabbing him on Boxing Day when he was still living in his family home.
The Strictly Come Dancing star shared the upsetting story when speaking on Kate Garraway’s Life Stories.
Ahead of the episode, which airs on ITV1 at 9pm tonight, a clip of the shocking chat between Anton and Kate has been shared online.
During the interview, Anton reflects back to his difficult childhood with his alcoholic dad.
“The alcoholism and the violence…(it was) towards me, because I was a boy, a young man I suppose”.
“You've got an alcoholic father and a situation where if you're in the house (he's) drinking then you end up with the fights and stuff”.
“You'd move room to get away from all of it and then he follows you in and the next thing you know the violence starts and then it came to a head one evening, I ended up in hospital for three days”.
Anton choked back tears as he went on to admit, “I got stabbed. I’ve never said this out loud before".
The 57-year-old revealed he never told friends and other family members about the incident as he didn’t see why he should or what he'd gain from doing it. “I'm a forward looker…I don't like to look back, I like to look forward”.
Recalling the event, Du Beke explained, “I got stabbed in the leg and in the stomach because of a fight on Boxing Day and it was an idiotic situation”.
“I remember walking out of the house to walk up to the hospital holding my leg and a police car drove past and I waved them down and I said, ‘He's in there with a knife’”.
“Anyway, they carted him off and I ended up in hospital for three or four days. My only concern was getting back into the studio and dancing and the embarrassment of it”.
Anton revealed he had told people he ‘pulled a hamstring’ instead of speaking about the stabbing because he was embarrassed.
After the attack, Anton’s dad was cleared in court for wounding his son.
The dancing judge also said that when his dad died, he did not attend his funeral. At the time, Anton changed his name from Anthony Beke to Anton Du Beke.
“I wanted a new start and a new beginning and I wanted to leave what went before, behind, and then move on with the rest of my life, I just wanted to be me”.
