Strictly's Anton Du Beke called "brave" after sharing childhood stabbing
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Kate Garraway has called Anton Du Beke "incredibly brave" after he revealed that he was violently injured by his father as a child.
During last night's (August 2) episode of Kate Garraway's Life Stories, the Strictly Come Dancing judge opened up about his childhood and recalled an incident in which his "alcoholic father" stabbed him in the leg and stomach, leaving him hospitalised for "three or four days".
Ahead of the episode's release, Kate appeared on the The One Show and said that Anton "never wanted to let what happened to him define him in any way".
Related: Strictly's Anton du Beke "absolutely flattened" by death of co-star Len Goodman
She continued: "When he was competing as a dancer he didn't want to be pitied and he wanted to compete and be seen on the merits of his dancing. He didn't want to give the bad stuff the oxygen, he feels very grateful and he wanted to celebrate that.
"He got to the point where he didn't want to hide or deny his past, as there are other people who are going through it and who are scarred by what they've been through.
"There was abuse, violent, frightening abuse that no child should have to go through. It affected his siblings, his mum worked very hard 24 hours a day and his father was an alcoholic. His family, including his wife, didn't know about this stuff. But he got to the point where he felt he shouldn't feel any shame."
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The Good Morning Britain presenter went on to say that Anton specifically wanted to open up about the incident to her, adding: "I hope that people see that he is wanting to share it for some good, not just for the sake of it.
"I think he's incredibly brave, I'm really proud of him and I think it will be an extraordinary watch. It's so unexpected, it took everyone's breath away."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One, while spin-off Strictly: It Takes Two airs on BBC Two. Both shows are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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