Anton Du Beke says he ‘never laid eyes’ on father again after stabbing
Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about the Boxing Day attack by his father that ended their troubled relationship.
Anton Du Beke has revealed he never saw his father again after being stabbed by him during a violent Boxing Day confrontation.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge said the attack happened when he was in his mid-twenties and brought an end to an already difficult relationship with his father, Antal.
Du Beke, 60, grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent, with his Spanish mother Ascension and Hungarian father. In his new book, Steps in Time: The Moments that Made Me, he describes his father as a violent alcoholic.
The dancer said he was on the phone to his dance teacher one Boxing Day when his father stabbed him in the leg and stomach.
Du Beke managed to get outside and flag down a passing police car. He told The Times: “The police carted him off, [but] after [the stabbing] I never laid eyes on him again.”
He said he was so embarrassed by what had happened that he initially told people he had injured himself dancing, claiming he had torn a hamstring.
Du Beke has also spoken about his decision not to drink, but rejected suggestions that it was caused by his father's alcoholism.
He said: “I don’t want people to think it defines me, but everybody’s an armchair psychologist.
“They go, ‘Oh, I see!’ No, I promise, you don’t see. I don’t drink. Before people know my father’s an alcoholic they go, ‘He doesn’t drink’. Now it’s, ‘I know why!’ Not the case.”
Instead, he said an attempt to drink beer when he was 17 was enough to put him off.
“I tried drinking when I was 17 and was sick all over the place. Two pints of beer, head spinning, the whole thing,” he said.
“I’ve got no constitution and it’s hugely expensive. I’d rather spend the money on dancing lessons.”
Du Beke's father died in 2001, with the dancer learning of his death in a phone call.
He said the news “didn’t resonate at all” and that he simply left a note for his mother telling her what had happened.
More than two decades later, Du Beke said he does not dwell on their troubled relationship, adding: “I have to move on.”
Du Beke has been part of Strictly Come Dancing since its first series in 2004. After years as one of the show's professional dancers, he joined the judging panel permanently in 2021.
He is married to Hannah Summers and the couple have nine-year-old twins, George and Henrietta.