10 September 2023 , 19:52
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Johannes Radebe detailed the moment he reunited with a relentless high school bully who made his childhood a living hell. The Strictly Come Dancing professional, famously in the show's first same-sex coupling, met the menace when returning home.
He grew up in South Africa and was victim of constant bullying at school, once being shoved down a toilet, Johannes revealed on the Saturday Live show on Radio 4. "I didn't have a childhood like other kids where I could roam the streets without being picked on.
"It's stifling and it was like that for many years. They would smack me and say, 'Are you a moth, are you a sissy boy?'. High school especially was terrible. I stopped going to the boys' bathrooms because of the bullying the one day they dunked my head in the toilet pot."
Johannes was in a same-sex pairing with John Whaite (PA)Johannes explained: "I was like 'I'm never going to go there, so I'm going to go in the teachers' bathrooms.'" Detailing the moment he was faced with his tormentor Malcolm, now a father-of-two, only a few weeks ago, Johannes said it was emotional.
"I met Malcolm, who was one of the bullies now the other day when I went home, which was like five weeks ago. At his side I felt sorry for him because I realised it was him, it's his insecurities, he's the one that had a problem, not me.
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"And it was lovely to have a conversation about where we are in life right now." Asked where Malcolm was, Johannes said: "Unfortunately unemployed, which is a situation which plagues my country.
"But what was interesting and beautiful was to see that he's grown as a person as well. And it was honestly beautiful to just have a conversation with him. I said to him 'you were something else', and he said 'I know'.
"The fact that he acknowledged that as well. I remember that we hugged and said goodbye, and that was nice." Asked if Malcolm apologised, the dancer said: "He did. I guess I had to release him a long time ago so that I could continue with my life.
"But for that to have happened I acknowledged it and I just said "you know it's where we are right now, isn't it. I didn't want to process it a lot. I was like 'good for you, it was never me, I understand now, but good for you that you see things differently now'.
"He's got two kids. What is he passing on to those kids, that's always my worry. You never know how they're going to turn out." Asked if meeting Malcolm helped, he replied: "It really did."