Cat Deeley was left fighting back tears as she interviewed a mum on This Morning who had been suffering heartbreaking abuse at the hands of her teenage daughter.
The TV host, 48, was joined by Ben Shephard, on the ITV daytime show on Monday morning when the anonymous parent opened up on her experience.
The mum, who only went by her first name, Juliet, appeared live in the studio, but her face was not shown as she explained how her daughter, who had been diagnosed with autism, became abusive at home.
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The horrifying story left Cat struggling to speak and appearing glassy eyed as she worked to keep hold of her emotions during the segment.
Juliet explained: ‘It all began when my daughter went to high school, essentially her personality totally changed, she became verbally abusive towards me and had quite a bit of attitude over and above what you would expect from normal teenagers.
‘That verbal abuse was quite significant, shouting, swearing and name calling.
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Cat Deeley was left fighting back tears as she interviewed a mum on This Morning who had been suffering heartbreaking abuse
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The mum, who only went by her first name, Juliet, appeared live in the studio as she explained how her daughter had been abusive in the home
‘After about a year, that turned into physical abuse, the first incident she returned and she’d been drinking, she was only 11 or 12 years old, and that was a factor in it.
‘It started off with her throwing things out of her bedroom, throwing things at me, at my head, and on that occasion she broke my finger.
‘She had what I would describe as a complete and utter meltdown, she was like a complete wild animal, and it wasn’t only me she was aiming her abuse at, it was my family as well who turned up to assist me.
‘She had just gone 12 years old.’
Opening up further about the changes at home, she continued: ‘When she started high school, it was like a switch had gone off, she completely changed.
‘She became far more belligerent, far more verbally abusive and it took a year then for the physical stuff to start’.
Holding back tears, Cat responded: ‘I can’t imagine being a mum and loving someone so much, and then being so frightened as well.
‘As their mum, you wouldn’t want them to get in trouble but at a certain point you have to ask how do you protect yourself?’
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Cat was left struggling to speak and appearing glassy eyed as she worked to keep hold of her emotions during the segment
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Cat held back tears as she admitted she couldn’t imagine feeling ‘frightened’ of her own child
She continued: ‘It’s a really difficult position you find yourself in because this is one of the people that you love most in the world and they are hurting you.
‘It doesn’t take long for you to forgive them and not forget about it but for things to sort of get back to normal, but it is a really weird position.
‘That’s your child who you’ve given birth to and they’re suddenly behaving in an abusive way towards you for no apparent reason.
‘I have two other children, and that’s a weird position to be in because you’ve got the behaviours from the one child, and you’re trying to protect the others.
‘She didn’t really project her abuse towards them, she still saw what was going on and they wanted to protect me, and I was quite keen to keep them out of the picture because I didn’t want them to be involved.
‘You’re left with no alternative then to take it forward.’
The heartbroken mum continued: ‘She was fine in school, she was fine with her friends and the rest of my family so outside of the home, she was completely lovely, confident and social.
‘It was sort of like she unloaded at home.’
The mum went on to explain her daughter had been diagnosed with autism and ADHD earlier this year, after she escalated the behaviour with the doctor.
‘She can’t emotionally regulate herself so once it starts it’s very difficult to stop,’ the mother said. ‘When she does start to show those signs, whereas before I would stay with her, I’ve learned that makes things worse.
‘I now make sure she’s safe, stays in her room and she might throw some things around and I don’t intervene in any way whatsoever now’.
Juliet clarified that her daughter hadn’t had a serious ‘meltdown’ in over a year, with the mother-of-three modifying the house to keep her safe.
She added: ‘I’ve got a set of lockers which I keep alcohol and sharp items, lighters and matches, anything she could use to harm herself or others.
‘I’ve got cameras all downstairs, and I’ve had to work from home because she needs supervision and I don’t want to leave her alone in the house.
‘We’ve all got locks on our bedroom doors as well so if things do escalate we can lock ourselves in.’
Juliet explained how her daughter ‘accepted’ all the changes, and ‘knows in her heart’ what her behaviour is but ‘just can’t help it’.
Cat and Ben then took advice from an expert, who explained the rise in these kinds of incidents, and changing behaviours in neurodivergent children.
