Victoria Derbyshire lived in fear of her violent father growing up.
The 51-year-old TV presenter has opened up on her experience with domestic violence, and admitted she was worried for those living in "abusive households" amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the lockdown measures left people "trapped" in their homes with their abuser.
Speaking on an episode of BBC’s ‘Panorama’ titled ‘Escaping My Abuser’, which aired on Monday (17.08.20), she said: "When the prime minister told us all to stay at home because of coronavirus, one of my first thoughts was for those living in abusive households – women, men and children, essentially trapped, forced to stay inside week after week. What would happen to them?"
And reflecting on her own experience, she added: "Growing up, I remember my whole body tensing every time I heard my father’s key in the back door. What mood would he be in when he came home from work? Would he provoke an argument? Would it lead to him hitting me, whipping me with his belt or just slapping me round the back of my head?"
Victoria – who presented the news in April with the telephone number for the National Domestic Abuse helpline written on her hand – also recalled running to the police station after hearing her father "hitting" her mother in their bedroom.
In scenes filmed outside her childhood home in Littleborough, Rochdale, she said: "I remember once, he locked my mum in their bedroom and he was hitting her and there was loads of noise and I was scared.
"So I ran from here down to the police station which was, I don’t know, maybe a mile or something?
"I was 12 or 13, I was so scared, I just ran to the police station, just ran in and said, ‘My dad’s hitting my mum, please can you come?’."
Victoria also spoke about her experiences in a subsequent article for the BBC News website, in which she said going to school while her father was working "meant respite from the disruptive shouting and cruel violence".
The ‘Victoria Derbyshire’ presenter worries that victims in lockdown won’t be able to have that momentary peace away from their abuser, and has been spending time during quarantine speaking to other survivors.
She said: "Spending the last few months finding out about the reality of domestic abuse under lockdown has been shocking – but I’ve also met women who’ve courageously escaped during the most challenging circumstances.
"I haven’t met one survivor, charity worker or domestic abuse advocate in the last few months who said they had seen any evidence the government in England had considered the effect lockdown would have on those living in an abusive household."