Strictly’s Craig Revel Horwood fights back tears as he opens up on abusive childhood: ‘I thought I’d be killed’
Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood fought back tears on ITV’s Loose Women today as he revealed the abuse he suffered at the hands of his alcoholic father.
The 60-year-old became visibly emotional during Tuesday’s episode as he disclosed his childhood trauma to the panel.
“I thought I’d be killed,” Horwood admitted when asked if he was frightened of his father. “It was real, proper abuse. It was horrible to come home to from school,” he told hosts Ruth Langsford, Janet Street-Porter, Denise Welch and Kelle Bryan.
The revelation came as Horwood discussed his upcoming one-man show, Revelations, which explores his relationship with his late father, Phil.
Horwood revealed the shocking extent of his father’s violence during the programme and added: “It was so bad he tried to shoot her [his mother] and my brother-in-law. He went to prison but only for a short time because Mum released the charges.”
The Strictly judge explained that he never confided in anyone about the abuse he endured and added: “No, I kept his drinking a secret. If he ever found out, I thought I’d be killed.
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“My mother, bless her, did not know what to do. Everyone said, ‘Why didn’t you just leave him?’ but it wasn’t possible at that stage,” before explaining that the abuse affected three of the five children in his family.
“There were three of us who were abused. We couldn’t bring people home from school – we were too scared,” he revealed before the situation deteriorated after his father’s career change.
“It got worse when he left the navy, he was functioning alcoholic for a long time,” Horwood said, before adding his father was sober for four years while attending AA meetings.
However, it was “drinking that killed him in the end,” the Strictly judge shared, referring to his father who died aged 74 in December 2015.
Despite his father’s actions, Horwood expressed that he couldn’t spend his entire life hating him and explained: “That’s what I talk about [in the show] – it was going to be a love or hate thing. I thought, ‘I don’t want to live the rest of my life hating my father’.”
Though unable to attend his father’s funeral due to work commitments, the dancer honoured him by performing his dad’s favourite tune, Frank Sinatra’s My Way, onstage.
Last week, Horwood told Good Morning Britain that dancing became his sanctuary from the abuse and said: “When I danced, it’s when I really came to life. I forgot all of the abuse at home, and it made me want to do something else with my life.”
His upcoming tour “Revelations – Songs Boys Don’t Sing” follows the release of his debut solo album of the same name and will include cities including Bath, Dundee, London, Liverpool and Swansea, concluding in Dunfermline on June 28.
Speaking about Strictly’s 20th anniversary this year, Horwood reflected on why the show remains successful.
He beamed:” I’ll tell you why I love it so much, is because every year it’s completely different.
“You change the cast and it’s a completely different show. You don’t know who you’re going to get and you don’t know where they’re going to lay within the realms of dance.
“And that’s what makes it interesting and exciting. It’s escapism.”