Sir Patrick Stewart reveals childhood domestic abuse he witnessed with 'weekend alcoholic' father

The actor opened up about his experience as he urged others to talk
Natasha Sporn12 April 2018

Sir Patrick Stewart has spoken out about the domestic violence he witnessed during his childhood at the hands of his “weekend alcoholic” father.

Stewart admitted he sometimes used acting as a “reason to be out of the house” as he opened up about living with his father who suffered from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his return from the war.

Speaking on Loose Women he said: “My brother and I lived with my mother and her sister across the road, we were treated so well. Suddenly there was this big, hairy man in the house. Increasingly things became more and more difficult.

“What I only learned about a few years ago was that he had suffered what the newspapers described as severe shell shock. Of course he was never treated for it - what we now call PTSD.

“He was a weekend alcoholic and it was partly brought about because of his transformation from Regimental Sergeant Major to basically a semi-skilled labourer with no authority at all. I realise now [this] must have been very painful for him.

“He would come home from the pub or the working men’s club. We would hear him singing. He loved to sing. The kind of songs he was singing would give us an advance warning of the mood he was in. Very often it was bad. He would initiate arguments and then those arguments advanced into something more extreme.”

Opening up: Sir Patrick Stewart urged people to talk in a similar situation (S Meddle/ITV/REX )
S Meddle/ITV/REX

Stewart then explained that he and his brother knew the warning signs and would often try get themselves in between his parents to try and prevent the situation from escalating.

He continued: “We became experts in something children should never, ever have to deal with, which was listening to the argument and judging when the argument would transform into violence. At those moments we would go in, we would just try and put our bodies between our mother and our father.

“He never abused his children. It was all directed at my poor mum. If we could have done, yes [we would have taken the blows]. Standing between them would stop it, he [his father] would stand back.”

The X Men star confessed that he never spoke out at the time because of the “shame” attached to domestic violence, but urged people in similar situations to speak out now.

Stewart said: “Unlike my time, there is aid available now. There are 24-hour helplines. Women’s Aid is one of the organisations that has a helpline. Call the helpline, you need not be alone.”

Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.

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