The Strictly Come Dancing star has had his fair share of struggles away from the spotlight, despite having been a fixture for more than 20 years.
Strictly Come Dancing’s ever-smiling Anton Du Beke has been a constant fixture on our screens for more than 20 years. Initially as a professional dancer, she has since been a judge on the well-known BBC program since 2012.
Behind that unrelenting smile are a history of personal trauma, including having an abusive parent and having to start a family with his wife.
Anton, who is the longest-serving professional dancer in the Strictly ranks, insists that his determination to succeed is not stemmed from his challenging past.
Anton firmly stated, “I never did anything I did because of his father,” in reference to his father’s severe alcoholism. Not because of that, I had the desire to do what I did. “Woe is me” is a word I detest.
He opened up about his upbringing in Sevenoaks, Kent in a candid conversation with The Times, revealing that his family lived in a council house. Because of my father’s drinking, a lot of money was wasted.
During an appearance on ITV’s Life Stories with Kate Garraway, Anton shared a chilling account of how his father’s drinking led to violent incidents: “I got stabbed in the leg and in the stomach because of a fight on Boxing Day and it was an idiotic situation. 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’.”
The actor, who has since been given the nickname “The King of Ballroom,” spent several days in the hospital after the incident, recalling that his only concern was “getting back into the studio and dancing and the embarrassment of it.”
The Strictly star lost all communication with his father, who passed away in 2001, after their separation from his parents. Antonon made the decision to not attend the funeral, saying, “Everything was about moving forward.
“I felt bad for my mother because her husband works two jobs and he chose to drink and be violent,” she said. You carry on with life, you say.
After a six-year courtship, Anton and Hannah Summers, a businesswoman, wed in 2017. The pair’s heartbreaking discovery that Hannah had been battling endometriosis, which had impacted her ability to fall pregnant naturally, led to the pair’s unsuccessful attempts to conceive for many years.
I had never heard of endometriosis before meeting my wife, Anton admitted. It might prevent women from having children. It is still not talked about enough.
“My wife appeared to be a person who was naturally motherly, but a freak of nature had told her she wouldn’t be able to conceive. That always seemed to me to be incredibly unfair. She is now the most amazing mother.
However, the pair eventually welcomed twins George and Henrietta through IVF in 2017. That challenging period came to a happy end.
Anton acknowledged that he may not have been prepared for fatherhood earlier in his life by recalling that his wife once called him “an island of an individual.”
“I once lived my life for myself. I was inspired to pursue my goals, which were also improved. However, when I had kids, it changed from focusing on me to the children.
“You shouldn’t have children in the first place if you can’t accept the responsibility.” When I was younger, it would have been inappropriate for me to have children.
Source: Mirror
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