Anton Du Beke of Strictly Come Dancing has revealed how he spent three days in hospital after being stabbed in the abdomen and leg by his father as a child on Boxing Day while living at the family home in Kent.
In a candid and tearful admission on Kate Garraway’s Life Stories, Du Beke said the revelations are likely to come as a shock to his friends and family as it’s the first time he’s spoken about the childhood incident.
Born to a Spanish mother and Hungarian father, the Strictly Judge lived on a council estate in Sevenoaks and discovered his flair for dancing after picking up his sister from the local studio. Although his mother encouraged his new hobby, his father, Antal, turned against Du Beke when alcoholism took hold of him.
Du Beke, 57, told the ITV show: ‘The alcoholism and the violence… (it was) against me, because I was a boy, a young man I think.
“…You have an alcoholic father and a situation where if you are in the house (he) is drinking, you end up with fights and stuff. You move your room to get away from it all and then he follows you in and before you know it the violence starts and then one night it came to a head, I ended up in hospital for three days.’
Struggling to hold back his tears, he said, “I’ve been stabbed, I’ve never said this out loud.”
Horrific: Anton Du Beke has revealed he was stabbed by his father Antal while describing horrific childhood abuse
Abuse: The Strictly Come Dancing star, 57, who previously shared how his father beat him with a belt, admitted he had never told anyone about the terrifying incident
Anton recalled swinging down a police car as he stumbled to the hospital after his father assaulted him.
He added: “I remember walking out of the house to walk to the hospital, holding my leg, and a police car went by and I waved it down and I said, ‘He’s in there with a knife.’ ‘
Anton’s sister Veronica Richards also appeared on the show, telling how Antal resisted his son’s dreams of becoming a dancer.
She said: ‘He always called Anton gay and he turned against him. My dad’s drinking affected his mood – he was mean, he wasn’t a nice person when he was drunk.
“My dad drank his money down the toilet, so mom worked nights in a nursing home. So she wasn’t there to protect us.’
Antal, who was from Hungary, was cleared of the knife attack by police and later divorced Anton’s mother, Spanish-born Ascension. Anton eventually left the parental home and changed his name from Anthony Beke to Anton Du Beke.
Interview: Speaking on Kate Garraway’s Life Stories, Anton said, ‘It came to a head one night. I ended up in the hospital for three days. I was stabbed in the leg and stomach’
Family: Anton’s sister Veronica Richards also appeared on the show and talked about how Antal was against his son’s dreams of becoming a dancer
He explained, “I wanted a fresh start and a new beginning and I wanted to leave what came before and then move on.
‘I just wanted to be myself. I started with Anton Du Beke and from there I really went further.’
Antal died in 2001 and Anton chose not to attend his funeral, but the star remains close to his mother and sister.
He said, ‘I’m not thinking about him. I never give him a second thought. It doesn’t affect me at all. I hate the thought of something like that defining you. I hate ‘Woe is me’. My motivation for doing what I did was not because of that, but because I wanted to do it.
Change: Anton eventually left the parental home and changed his name from Anthony Beke to Anton Du Beke
Family: Anton is now married to his wife Hannah, with whom he shares six-year-old twins George and Henrietta
“And there’s only one way to do that, and that’s to be the best at it.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Anton discussed his 20 years of service with Strictly Come Dancing.
He joined the judging panel for the 2021 series, saying Len Goodman was the only person he went to for advice on the new role.
He said, “They asked me to judge, so of course I talked to Len. I spoke to no one else. I feel like Len and I shared the Strictly Come Dancing journey together.
“I had known Len for 45 years. It was immediately clear what to do in five seconds – he told me: ‘Be yourself and say what you see’. That is it.’
Show: Anton joined the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel for the 2021 series and said Len Goodman was the only person he went to for advice on the new role
Despite being on the show for so long, Anton only reached the final twice, with Katie Derham in 2015 and Emma Barton in 2019, but failed to win each time.
He said of his track record, “I realized two things within ten minutes. First, this isn’t about me, and second, I’m going to have to be myself because we always had the mics and cameras on.
“So I never cared who I got, and if I had someone who couldn’t dance, I’d just fly them in.” That’s the fun.
“But I hated being voted off. It was absolutely humiliating, disheartening and felt really awful because I hated not being part of the show.”
Kate Garraway’s Life Stories airs Wednesdays at 9pm on ITV1.