Victoria Derbyshire reveals father threw hot soup over her as a child

'I didn't say anything, I didn't scream. I just got up, went to the sink and washed it off.'

This is the harrowing account of Victoria Derbyshire's childhood abuse, when her violent father would throw scalding soup over her as a youngster. 

The broadcaster, who has previously battled breast cancer, has revealed the horrific extent of the trauma she suffered at the hands of her father, Anthony, which included her being beaten with a wooden spoon and hit with a belt.

Derbyshire described her reaction while being covered in scalding soup, saying: 'I just looked at him with contempt in my eyes – and he could see it.'

When she and her siblings heard their father's key in the door as he returned home from work, they would hide in their bedrooms and shut the door. 

In an interview with The Independent, Derbyshire said that despite the abuse she would try not to flinch when her bullying father struck her.

'It was my way of showing him that I couldn't be riled,' she said.

The Newsnight host spoke of her father putting his hands around her neck and pinning her against the pantry door in front of her screaming best friend.

Anthony would also inflict abuse on Derbyshire's mother, leaving her with a broken rib amid a terrifying campaign of violence.

However, when the injury was reported, a doctor's note simply described it as 'husband trouble'.

The former BBC Radio 5 Live host, also recalled that even something as mundane as not making him a cup of tea would set her father off in a rage.

And when the kettle was boiling her father would get angry and shout until someone switched it off for him.

Derbyshire said it was her mother's love and her bond with her siblings which allowed them to maintain a sense of normality amid the abuse they faced.

While they tried to briefly live with their mother's sister, the inconvenience, and the need to attend school and look after their pets, eventually drew them back home.

Her father, who died in 2020, denied hitting his children but has previously admitted striking his ex-wife, claiming she was aggressive to him.

Derbyshire acknowledged much progress has been made since then and how domestic abuse is handled by the police. 

The broadcaster tied the knot with her long-term partner Mark Sandell in an intimate autumn ceremony back in 2018, after surviving her battle with cancer

She decided to spontaneously propose to her now husband Mark the day after her diagnosis in 2015.

The TV star found out she may have had breast cancer after she Googled 'inverted nipple' after noticing her right breast was about two inches lower than her left.

The couple had been together 15 years before Derbyshire decided that they should get married, she candidly revealed during an interview in 2017.

At the time, she said: 'My first official day of living with cancer was August 1, 2015. 

'So I got up and went downstairs and announced to Mark that we had been together for 15 years and we should get married. He’s been married before and he said with a straight face, ‘I think marriage is overrated to be honest.’  

She was diagnosed with stage 2 lobular breast cancer, which means it develops in the lobes of the breast and spreads to surrounding tissue - some 10 per cent of breast cancers are this type.

While on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2020, Derbyshire candidly opened up about her gruelling cancer battle during a chat with campmate Jessica Plummer. 

The star detailed how she reacted to finding out she had cancer, revealing that she could 'barely speak' to her husband from the shock.

She said: 'We could barely speak, you know. We could barely speak to each other. We are talkers, we are open, we are you know, and we just had no words because honestly all I was thinking was I'm going to die.

'Seriously, I'm going to die. And then, I thought I'm not going to see my boys grow up, I'm not going to grow old with Mark, I mean it was just, I just thought my luck's run out, you know.'

Derbyshire started her journalist, newsreader and broadcaster career as a reporter for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, before working at BBC GMR Radio.

She went on to join BBC Radio 5 Live in 1998 at first deputizing for Jane Garvey and then as a regular co-presenter with Julian Worricker. 

In 2004, after a period of maternity leave, she took over the morning news programme. Her final Radio 5 Live show was broadcast on 5 September 2014.

Derbyshire began presenting BBC's Newsnight in 2013, which she is now joint lead presenter alongside Kirsty Wark.

Her Bafta-winning BBC2 show, Victoria Derbyshire, was axed in 2020, the same year it was announced she would take part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.

Since then, Derbyshire has presented from 9am to 11am on BBC Two, BBC News Channel and BBC World News.

Throughout her career, she has been a vocal campaigner against domestic abuse. 

In 2020, she was praised when she hosted the BBC News while having the domestic abuse helpline on her hand.

She told the newspaper telling her story 'doesn't bring up trauma' and said domestic abuse can happen to anyone.

'And it's nothing to do with class or your job or money. If it helps to talk about it, then absolutely, I'll talk.'

The interview was granted to newspaper to raise awareness of a new campaign called Brick By Brick that aims to raise £300,000 for a new type of Refuge to help those fleeing domestic violence.

• If you or someone you know is affected by domestic abuse, you can contact Refuge's national domestic abuse helpline for free, confidential support at 0808 2000 247.