Kate Garraway praises 'brave' Anton Du Beke after terrifying family ordeal

02 August 2023 , 18:50

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Kate Garraway praises 'brave' Anton Du Beke after terrifying family ordeal

Kate Garraway has shared how proud she is of "incredibly brave" Anton Du Beke ahead of his episode of ITV's Kate Garraway's Life Stories on Wednesday night. On the emotional episode tonight, Anton, 57, speaks for the first time about the violent abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

The professional ballroom dancer breaks down in tears as he recalls being stabbed by his late Hungarian father, Antal, who disapproved of his passion for dance. Appearing on Wednesday's The One Show ahead of the episode, Kate, 56, shared her support for Anton, who she was partnered with on Strictly Come Dancing in 2007.

Kate said: "I think he's incredibly brave, I'm really proud of him. I think it will be an extraordinary watch tonight. It's so unexpected, it took everybody's breath away, and he's just very brave and wonderful. I hope people react to it like that because I think he wants to feel he's sharing for some good and not just for the sake of it."

Kate Garraway has shared how proud she is of "incredibly brave" Anton Du Beke (BBC)

It comes as a clip for tonight's show, Anton says: "I've never spoken about this before in my entire life. I wanted a new start and a new beginning. I ended up in hospital for three days - I got stabbed."

The Strictly Come Dancing star begins to cry as he adds: "I've never said this out loud before," before going on to clarify: "I got stabbed in the leg and in the stomach because of a fight on Boxing Day. It was idiotic. 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 him 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."

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Anton told Kate his father was only violent towards him and never towards his mother Ascension or sister Veronica. The ballroom dancer revealed he felt "embarrassed" by the incident and added: "I’m sure my friends and family don’t even know. It’s the first time I’ve mentioned it out loud. What’s to be gained from talking about it all? I can’t really believe I’m talking to you about this, I should have glossed over it and said, ‘It was all marvellous dear.’"

Anton, 57, speaks for the first time about the violent abuse he suffered at the hands of his father

Speaking about the interview on Good Morning Britain, Kate told viewers Anton "didn't want to be defined" by his father's violence. "Talks about a lot of decisions including his name, I don't want to give anything away, that came from not wanting to be defined by it," the presenter explained. "He went back to school and never told anyone just said he had a sore foot."

Anton grew up in a council house on an estate in Sevenoaks, Kent. His mother took a second job working nights in a nursing home and Anton left school with no qualifications to work in order to fund his dance classes. His parents later divorced and Anton never saw his dad again. When he died, he didn’t go to the funeral.

Olivia Wheeler