Exclusive: Martine McCutcheon bravely talks about her abusive father
In a discussion about forgiving parents, Martine McCutcheon bravely opened up about being estranged from her abusive father since she was a child.
'It's quite well known know because he went to the papers and talked about what he'd done to me and my mum. It was domestic abuse against my mum and sometimes me,' she said. 'We had an injunction against him when I was nine years old. And he lost the right for me to be loyal to him when he did that .'
Talking about life without her father, Martine candidly revealed, 'It wasn't so much that I wished he was in my life, if anything I felt sad for him. I thought, "You're missing out on me flourishing, me becoming a mother and meeting someone who it part of you". I do look like my dad. '
Gloria asked about cutting a parent out of your life completely and Martine gave a very honest answer, saying, 'I think it's a self preservation thing. Even now I get flashbacks of things that happened that I haven't thought about in decades. I think it's happening now I've had [my son] Rafferty as well. It's a protection thing, remembering as much as I can.
'Sometimes people do build bridges with family. It's not always rosey in families but just because you build bridges but it doesn't mean it's ever the same again.'