Warning: This article contains discussion of child sex abuse which some readers may find distressing
A woman in a harrowing documentary added to Netflix today speaks in it about the complicated feelings she has towards her mother for her dad’s 16 years of sexual abuse.
Netflix has released a number of harrowing documentaries in recent weeks, with their most recent being The Perfect Neighbour, a deconstruction of a controversial shooting told through bodycam footage.
Now, however, Netflix has added a similarly emotional Channel 4 documentary, focused on a woman who bravely tells the story of how she was abused by her father from when she was two years old.
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Called A Paedophile in my Family, Surviving Dad, the doc focuses on Emily Victoria, a woman now in her mid 30s.
Victoria was sexually abused by her father between the ages of two and 18, when she spoke out after fearing that her father may have been abusing others.
Now a businesswoman, she spoke in the documentary originally produced by Channel 4 in 2023 before being added to Netflix this week.
Emily spoke about the complicated feelings towards her mother, saying that she loves her but also recognising she was sad that the signs she was being abused were missed.
Speaking in the documentary, Emily said: “Imagine if your dad wanted to be with you instead of your mum.
“Can you imagine what that feels like? And then how horrible it makes you feel?
“I just felt sorry for her all the time. I might have resented her as well, so thought, like, 'Why weren't you able to see or whatever?'"
She went on to say: “There's so many layers to my relationship with my mum and it really, really hurts in some ways.
"I don't know, I think I feel really guilty as well. It makes me emotional.
“Because I know that I couldn't have done anything to stop it - but there's an element where I feel like I ruined her life."
Her mum Kathy appears in the documentary and sadly admits that there are times where she felt like ‘she lost her’, adding that it’s a ‘constant fear’.
She spoke specifically to Emily, saying: “I didn't ever think that it was anything more than a really strong bond [between Emily and her father].
“I just felt a little bit more and more pushed out.”
The documentary is critically acclaimed for its raw portrayal of her experience with her father’s abuse, with his release from prison after 14 years being the event that spurred her on to speak out about it.
The Telegraph gave the doc a four star review, calling it ‘a courageous plea’ for survivors to speak up.
They went on to say: “Hopefully films like hers will encourage other sufferers to speak out sooner, because if there is a throughline to her story it was that everyone wished they’d said something, but no one did.”
A Paedophile in my Family, Surviving Dad is available to stream on Netflix now.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7. You can also contact Stop It Now on 0800 1000 900.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, Mental Health, Channel 4, TV and Film, TV, Documentaries
Michael Slavin