Victoria Derbyshire revealed that her dad strangled her and dragged her out of bed in the night as she opened up about her abusive childhood on Thursday's instalment of Loose Women.
The journalist, 56, appeared on the panel to talk to Christine Lampard, 46, Coleen Nolan, 60, and Olivia Attwood, 33, in aid of the show's domestic abuse campaign Facing It Together.
Victoria described her childhood as 'very tense' because her father Anthony, who died in 2020 following a stroke, was a 'bully and violent' towards her, her mum Pauline, and her siblings.
Recalling her younger days at home, Victoria said: 'He was vile, frankly.
'He would put his key in the door when he was coming in from work and we would all scatter because we just didn’t want to be around, because we were walking on egg shells as we knew he would probably start an argument, or he would be shouting to cause tension.
She added: 'On occasion put my hands around my throat. He would drag me out of bed in the middle of the night to shout at me.'
My abusive dad strangled me and dragged me out of bed in the night to attack me - we'd scatter in terror when he walked through the door, reveals Victoria Derbyshire in tear-jerking Loose Women interview
The journalist, 56, appeared on the panel to talk to Christine Lampard, 46, Coleen Nolan, 60, and Olivia Attwood, 33, in aid of the show's domestic abuse campaign Facing It Together
'Obviously I knew that was not normal, because I had friends with fathers who were not like that.
'But it was relatively normal in our household.'
Describing how it made her feel and how she did not receive support from appropriate services back then, Victoria said: 'I didn’t tell a teacher, and not because of shame, it was just that this was the way it is in our house… I’ve got some of my mum’s doctors notes [from back then], and she went to the doctors with a broken rib and it says in the doctors notes ‘husband trouble’, and that was of the time… nobody did anything!'
She continued: 'There was a time my father was hitting my mother, and our phone had been cut off because my father hadn’t paid the bill - which I now know was a way of isolating us, which I didn’t at the time.
'So I had to run to the police station, which was about two miles away and I was about 13 or 14ish. It took them two hours to come. And when they came, they knocked at the door, they were invited in for a cup of tea by my father and they never spoke to my mum. When you think back, it’s unreal.'
When asked if she spoke to her family about what they were going through, Victoria confessed that she did with her mum's side of the family.
'We did. I heard your conversation earlier, where you look for light in the dark times, there was a lot of dark humour.
'We'd go to my gran, my mum's sister, those places were of sanctuary, where we would talk, we would laugh,' Victoria said.
'I don't want people to think my childhood was super totally bleak. Because of my mum and her side of the family.'
Asked by Coleen, ‘when did it all end?’ Victoria responded: 'My mother and father got divorced when I was sixteen, and honestly that was liberation! It was an incredible feeling… She fell in love with someone else and thank God she did.
'Together we saved each other. Certainly as I was growing up, I was trying to stand up to him more. I could never match him physically but I would not react in a situation where I knew he would want me to react, but yeah, she met another man who became my step-dad and they got married, and he was like a proper father.'
As she got older she realised that what was going on at home wasn't right.
She described the abhorrent behaviour as 'relatively normal in our household'
Victoria previously spoke out about her abusive childhood back in 2014 and has been open about her experiences ever since
Victoria told the panel: 'I think by a certain age, you know, it's wrong, my best friend's family, they didn't have an abusive parent.'
The broadcaster made headlines back in 2020 when she put the phone number of the national domestic abuse helpline on her arm during an appearance on live TV.
Speaking of her decision, she told the panel: 'When Boris Johnson said in lockdown, stay at home, one of the first things that occurred to me was "Oh my God if you are in a home with an abusive parent or abusive partner, you are literally trapped."
'We saw domestic abuse rates sore in that time.'
'I did a Panorama about it, and our research showed police were receiving calls about domestic abuse during lockdown once every 30 seconds. That is just astonishing, and shocking, and totally not acceptable.'
Revealing how she has made no secret of her father’s behaviour to her son’s, Victoria said: 'My father, who is not alive anymore, is their grandfather so obviously we never saw him because why would we?
'So, when they were old enough I would explain ‘the reason that you don’t see THAT grandfather is XYZ’, and talk to them about it.
'We’re a really open family, we do talk about stuff and I think that is a good thing. So they are very aware what domestic abuse is and what coercive control is.'
Many felt touched by Victoria sharing her experience and took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts.
One said: 'Caught Victoria Derbyshires interview on #LooseWomen on my lunch break & it mirrored my mums story & the challenges she faced as a girl living with an abusive & violent dad. “When he left it was liberation day” that bit made me smile.'
It is not the first time that Victoria has spoken about her abusive childhood.
Victoria said back in 2014: '‘It was very much us four against him.
'He was aggressive and violent and not loving in any way. Not like a father should be.'
In 2020 she recalled the moment he poured hot soup over her when she was a teen.
Victoria told The Times: 'Once I was sitting eating my tea - tomato soup - in my school uniform. He was shouting at me across the kitchen table.
'I looked up and I didn’t say anything. But I was thinking, ''I have complete contempt for you.'' And he could see it in my eyes.
'So he leant across the table and tipped the hot soup all over my school uniform. My way of dealing with that was not to react. Don’t scream. Don’t cry.'
The publication reported that the media personality and her family did not attend Anthony's funeral.
The Times reported in 2020 that when Anthony was asked about the allegations, he admitted to hitting his ex-wife, but denied hitting his kids.
The Facing It Together campaign launched in March 2024.
Last month the show marked it's first anniversary with a very powerful special episode.
