Tonbridge-born ballroom dancer Anton Du Beke – on Pointless Celebrities this weekend (July 12) – will celebrate his 59th birthday in July.
This year also marks 21 years since he became a judge on the BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing.
He and his wife Hannah had twins in 2017, after a gruelling IVF journey.
Anton was previously in a relationship with a woman called Vanessa, who, he said, dumped him and then started dating one of his mates. Ouch…
But perhaps his most heartbreaking experience – his words, not ours – was when Liverpool FC lost in the FA Cup when he was just a little boy.
Anton married his wife Hannah Summers in 2017 (Credit: SplashNews.com)
Dancer and presenter Anton Du Beke on ‘worst childhood memory’
Many moons ago, when Anton Du Beke was a young boy, he used to play football all the time.
He supported Liverpool and, one year, they made the FA Cup final. Since there “wasn’t much else going on”, Anton said, he had a lot of time and energy to devote to fandom. But that year, to his chagrin, Liverpool lost to Manchester United. And he cried.
“I’d never cried before over football,” Anton revealed, while recounting his worst childhood memories during an interview with the Telegraph. “That was heartbreaking.”
In a separate incident, he remembers going to the field one day to take part in a competition and finding it unplayable.
“I remember going to this football thing, a competition or something to play, and the ground was frozen and we couldn’t. I have to tell you, I was devastated,” he said.
It may have been the easiest answer to give in the moment. But Liverpool losing to Man City was certainly one of the better ‘worst’ experiences of his childhood, which was littered with abuse.
Anton told Kate Garraway in 2023 that his father stabbed him in a rage many years ago (Credit: ITV)
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