Kate Garraway praises Strictly's Anton Du Beke and fans rush to support him as he opens up on difficult childhood and divulges real name

Kate Garraway has spoken out with praise for Anton Du Beke as fas rushed to support him following his emotional interview with the broadcaster. Kate's Life Stories series returned to ITV on Wednesday night (August 2) with Anton the first guest of the new series.

The Strictly Come Dancing star opened up to Kate about his dancing career that lead him to becoming the longest-serving professional dancer on the hit BBC One show before he recently joined the judging panel as well as his difficult childhood and family life now.

And in emotional scenes, Anton, 57, spoke out for the first time about a childhood incident, in which he was stabbed by his father. He spent three days in hospital after he was stabbed in the stomach and the leg on Boxing Day while he was living at the family home in Kent.

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Speaking on The One Show ahead of the episode’s airing, Kate said Anton "never wanted to let what happened to him define him in any way." She said: "When he was competing as a dancer he didn’t want to be pitied and he wanted to compete and be seen on the merits of his dancing,” she said.

“He didn’t want to give the bad stuff the oxygen, he feels very grateful and he wanted to celebrate that. He got to the point where he didn’t want to hide or deny his past, as there are other people who are going through it and who are scarred by what they’ve been through.

"He thought if I’m going to speak about it, I’m going to do it with Kate. I hope that people see that he is wanting to share it for some good, not just for the sake of it."

Sharing her thoughts on the episode she continued: "I think he’s incredibly brave, I’m really proud of him and I think