Lidia Thorpe says her father ‘threw me under the bus’ after branding her ‘racist’ in interview

Lidia Thorpe has spoken out about her complicated relationship with her father, saying he “threw her under the bus” after calling her “racist” during a TV interview.

The native senator told activist Tom Tanuki that her father, Roy Illingsworth, “texted me all morning telling me he loves me, even though he threw me under the bus at Andrew Bolt last night.”

Mr Illingsworth branded his daughter a ‘very racist person’ on Sky News Australia last week, claiming her power as a senator had ‘gone to her head’.

It came just days after footage surfaced of the senator calling patrons at a strip club in Melbourne “white c****” and mocking the size of their genitals.

“The way I see it, the way she is and the way she’s changed over the years, she’s a very racist person,” said Illingworth, who is of Anglo-Irish descent.

“She doesn’t acknowledge her white side. I’m a little disappointed in her demeanor lately.

“Because, after all, she has both an English and an Irish background, the convict side of the English.”

Mr Illingsworth revealed that he and his daughter only speak on birthdays or Father’s Day and he has no contact with her children.

“She’s said a lot of bad and bad things to me over the years,” he claimed.

“We still love each other, and she’s still my daughter after all.”

In his interview with the senator, Mr. Tanuki said he admired the fact that she was “supposedly bull free.”

“And that always got me in trouble,” she replied.

Roy Illingworth (pictured) last week claiming his daughter had become ‘a very racist person’ in an interview with Sky News Australia’s Andrew Bolt

“Because I’m an honest shooter, an honest talker, I have nothing to hide and people struggle with that. And what do they want me to conform to?’ she said.

‘How do you want me to be? Do you want me to be like Pauline Hanson, do you want me to be like Jacinta Price? You know what makes a good model politician like you want me to be?’

The senator said that while her life had complications, she was a “loving person” who wanted to lead the left and the conservatives on a “journey of peace and healing.”

She was widely criticized after the publication of footage of her yelling at a group of men outside Maxine’s Gentlemen’s Club in Melbourne – including by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese telling her to ‘get help’.

In a statement, the senator said she “cannot go out without being harassed by racists” and said this is an example of the same “racism that Blak people face every day in this colony.”

“Saturday night I was challenged and I stood up for myself. Not one person was injured,” she said.

“The story should be about the racists brutally harassing a senator.

“The story is that I can’t go out without being harassed by racists.”

Senator Thorpe has faced widespread criticism after the publication of footage of her yelling at a group of men outside Maxine’s Gentlemen’s Club in Melbourne (pictured)

Ms Thorpe responded to the criticism by saying she ‘can’t go out without being harassed by racists’ (pictured trying to disrupt a speech by activist Posie Parker in Canberra)

Mr Albanese suggested that Ms Thorpe’s behavior had ‘obvious issues that need to be addressed in terms of her health issues’.

“These are not the actions of someone who should normally participate in society, let alone a senator,” he said.

And Lidia must be very aware of the way this behavior is perceived. I hope she gets some kind of support.’

While Ms Thorpe claimed she was wooed by the men, Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed that the rogue senator had walked up to white patrons of the strip club and accused them of stealing her land earlier in the evening.

The collapse of the strip club is just the latest in a string of controversial incidents involving the senator in recent months, including temporarily halting the Mardi Gras parade in protest at police.