Anton Du Beke was stabbed as a child by his dad

** Warning - article contains themes that some readers may find distressing **

Strictly Come Dancing's Anton Du Beke has revealed he was stabbed as a child by his dad.

The British ballroom and Latin dancer, who has been involved in the BBC One celebrity dancing show since it first began in 2004, opened up about his childhood and difficult relationship with his father.

Speaking on Kate Garraway's Life Stories, Du Beke revealed his father, Antal, 'took a turn' against him after severely struggling with alcohol abuse.

BBC

The 57-year-old Strictly Come Dancing star explained to Garraway that this was the first instance he was publicly talking about the situation, saying: "I got stabbed, I've never said this out loud before."

Du Beke continued: "The alcoholism and the violence... [it was] towards me, because I was a boy, a young man I suppose.

"You've got an alcoholic father and a situation where if you're in the house [he's] drinking then you end up with the fights and stuff.

"You'd move room to get away from all of it and then he follows you in and the next thing you know the violence starts and then it came to a head one evening."

Taking place just one day after a Christmas when he was staying at the family home on a council estate in Kent, he told the broadcaster his father then knifed him in the stomach and leg.

Recalling the incident, Du Beke added: "I got stabbed in the leg and in the stomach because of a fight on Boxing Day and it was an idiotic situation.

BBC

"I remember walking out of the house to walk up to the hospital holding my leg and a police car drove past and I waved them down and I said 'he's in there with a knife'."

Embarrassed by the whole ordeal, the professional dancer said he lied about the injuries he had sustained to his friends after spending multiple days in hospital being treated.

"Anyway, they carted him off and I ended up in hospital for three or four days," the dancer went on. "My only concern was getting back into the studio and dancing and the embarrassment of it."

Explaining that his family and friends knew nothing of the attack as he never saw any benefit from speaking about his ordeal, Du Beke said: "I'm a forward looker... I don't like to look back, I like to look forward."

When asked about his leg injury, the TV personality simply said he had 'pulled a hamstring'.

"I can't really believe I'm talking to you about this. I should've glossed over this," Du Beke said to Garraway. "Even the thought of that [the attack] being a thing sort of annoys me as well."

BBC

While Antal was eventually cleared in court for the wounding of his son, Du Beke did not attend his funeral.

He said: "Everything was about moving forwards, I felt sorry for my mum, this was her husband, she's working two jobs and he chose to drink and be violent, it's just life and you carry on."

It was at this point that the aspiring dancer changed his moniker 'from Tony Beke, who grew up on a council estate' to 'Anton Du Beke, The Show Man'.

"I wanted a new start and a new beginning and I wanted to leave what went before, behind, and then move on with the rest of my life, I just wanted to be me," he revealed.

"I hate woe is me," Du Beke added. "I never sought any sense of confirmation or encouragement from him and I never did anything I did because of him.

"My motivation to do what I did was not because of that."