He may be TV’s hard man, but Danny Dyer reveals he had a rocky start in life, as he recalled his father’s harsh words to him and details his shock double life.

The actor, 47, gets a grilling in ITV’s new show The Assembly, which sees a celebrity face questions from a group of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people, forcing them to cast aside their media training, with no topic off limits.

Opening up on his previously fractured relationship with his father Anthony on the show, Danny recalled the heartbreaking childhood moment his father told him he ‘wasn’t allowed’ to hold his hand anymore.

He shared: ‘My dad just wasn’t a very good dad. He didn’t know how to do it. He told me when I wasn’t allowed to hold his hand anymore. I was trying to cross the road, and I went to hold his hand, and he went, ‘No, we don’t do that anymore’.’

The former EastEnders actor, 47, who is now a proud father to daughters, Dani, 28, and Sunni, 18, along with son, Arty, 11 says he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he didn’t have a relationship with his offspring.

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He may be TV’s hard man, but Danny Dyer reveals he had a rocky start in life, as he recalled his father’s harsh words to him and details his shock double life

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The actor, 47, gets a grilling in ITV ‘s new show The Assembly, which sees a celebrity face questions from a group of autistic, neurodivergent and learning disabled people

He continued: ‘I was like, s**t. I don’t understand how men put their head on the pillow knowing that they have children out there that they just don’t have a relationship with – I couldn’t do it.’

‘I caused quite a lot of pain, to my children – the stuff I was getting up to, just being vacant, and not engaging, just not being available.

‘I realised later on, wow, I am going to do everything in my power to be… it’s not about money – you could live in a cardboard box. You have to express yourself. It’s about love, and what children need.

‘This just need stability and affection and [to] feel like they’re loved, that’s it. When you haven’t got that, it’s a pretty tough thing.’

Meanwhile on the show, the TV star opened up on his discovery that his dad was leading a secret life away from his family.

Danny shared: ‘My dad was living two lives, so he was sort of raising us and then I always remember on Christmas Day, he would disappear for a few hours, so what he was doing was going across London to his other family, and he had two daughters,’ says the star.

‘Just think about that – crazy. How could you do that? When my mum found out my sister was nine months old or something, so it was a real moment of clarity. How the f**k did he do that by the way?

Discussing if he is in contact with his estranged father now, The Football Factory favourite, claims, ‘I am very close to my dad now because again, he deserved another shot, and if there is still no relationship, it’s their loss, because you are an incredible human-being.’

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Opening up on his previously fractured relationship with dad Anthony, Danny recalled the heartbreaking childhood moment his father told him he ‘wasn’t allowed’ to hold his hand anymore

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‘My dad just wasn’t a very good dad. He didn’t know how to do it. He told me when I wasn’t allowed to hold his hand anymore’ [Pictured together in March]

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Danny, who has Dani, 28, Sunni, 18, and Arty, 11, with wife Joanne Mas says he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he didn’t have a relationship with his offspring (pictured together)

Danny previously spoke of his father in 2021, as he revealed his real name is actually Danial Dyer – because his father misspelt Daniel on his birth certificate when he was ‘off his nut’.

The star thinks his dad Antony was ‘battered’ when he was given the responsibility of filling in his birth certificate, and as a result his moniker was accidentally set as Danial rather than the conventional spelling of Daniel.

Speaking on his and daughter Dani’s Sorted with the Dyers podcast, he said: ‘I did change my name, because my name is Danial. My old dad, and I love him very much, is old school.

‘I was born in the 70s so men didn’t really get involved in much then. Back in the day, my mum would go, “I’m going into labour,” and he’d be up the boozer and go, “What time are you going to be home?”.’

He continued: ‘She went into labour and gave birth. He got up there, obviously off his nut, and he got to do the important thing, the birth certificate, which I think you have to sign.

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Danny previously spoke of his father in 2021, as he revealed his real name is actually Danial Dyer – because his father misspelt Daniel on his birth certificate when he was ‘off his nut’

‘He agreed to the name Daniel but he spelt it Danial – D-A-N-I-A-L. It could’ve been a mix of things – that he was battered, that he doesn’t spell. It could’ve been a bit of both.’

The former soap star – who played Mick Carter on the BBC One show – admitted he had always planned to change his name to Danny anyway.

He said: ‘As I got into the acting years I sort of decided … I changed it. It was always going to be Danny. I thought Danny was a better name, it has a better ring to it.’

Dyer was born in Custom House, East London, in 1977 and sadly his parents split up when he was just aged nine.