Victoria Derbyshire opens up about domestic abuse she endured as a child

Victoria Derbyshire has bravely opened up about the horrifying domestic abuse she endured as a child in support of The Independent’s Brick by Brick campaign.

The Newsnight presenter revealed that her father used to beat her with a wooden spoon, hit her with a belt, and regularly beat her mother so severely that on one occasion he broke a rib.

She also described how her father once threw scalding soup on her school uniform and put his hands around her throat.

The physical and mental abuse was so bad that Derbyshire, along with her mother, brother, and sister, left their home to stay with her aunt, only to return, as “life kept drawing us back”.

In a searingly honest interview with The Independent, Derbyshire said: “When I think about my childhood, it feels like domestic abuse was always there.”

She says: “It was just a feature of us growing up – me, my brother, my sister, and my mum.”

Although her father, who died in 2020, denied hitting his children, Derbyshire recalled a childhood where fear was a constant presence, saying something as mundane as a boiling kettle could set off her father’s rage.

“If he came home and someone didn’t make him a cup of tea – it sounds pathetic, but he’d get angry. He’d shout that the kettle was boiling, so you’d have to come into the kitchen, because he wouldn’t switch it off himself.”

Derbyshire recalled how she would try not to flinch when her father struck out at her. “It was my way of showing him that I couldn’t be riled,” she said. One such occasion was when her father threw scalding soup over her.

“I just looked at him with contempt in my eyes – and he could see it. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t scream. I just got up, went to the sink and washed it off. It was my way of trying to show that he wasn’t affecting me.”

The seasoned broadcaster spoke in unprecedented detail about her experience in support of The Independent‘s Brick by Brick campaign, in partnership with Refuge, which aims to raise £300,000 to build a safe house for survivors fleeing domestic abuse.

You can donate to the campaign here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate £15.

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