Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood: ‘I thought my abusive father was going to kill me’

Craig Revel Horwood opens up on childhood abuse at hands of father: 'I thought I'd be killed'ITV

Transcript

00:00We couldn't bring people home from school.

00:02We were just too scared, and we were like little slaves.

00:05Sorry to interrupt you, Craig, but when you went to school,

00:08did you tell anyone at school? No.

00:10You didn't tell anyone outside the family at all? No, I kept it a secret.

00:15I kept his drinking a secret.

00:17Was that because you were frightened of the repercussions for you,

00:21or you were ashamed of it? Well, if he ever found out,

00:24I thought I'd be killed. Oh, wow.

00:26You know, I mean, it was real, proper abuse,

00:30and it was horrible to come home to from school.

00:34It got worse when he left the Navy and didn't have a job.

00:38Of course. Then he was a functioning alcoholic for a long time,

00:43and then he went to AA, and for four years he was completely sober,

00:48and that was the best I'd seen him ever.

00:51And then he went back to drinking, and it was the drinking that killed him.