Perdita
04-07-2008, 06:04
MARTINE McCutcheon spoke out yesterday about her abusive childhood to encourage victims of domestic violence to come forward.
The former EastEnders favourite, 32, told how her sadistic father Thomas Hemmings once dangled her over a balcony when she was just two years old to blackmail her mother into having sex with him.
Martine told This Morning: "He knew that I had become the thing she loved the most. In a way I was a saviour but in another way he'd found her weakness.
"My first memory of my dad is him hanging me over a balcony. I remember just hearing the voices and feeling scared. I can remember hearing my mum reassuring him and him threatening to drop me if she didn't do what he said."
Luckily a friend rescued dangling Martine before her dad could carry out his cruel threats.
Martine’s mother, Jenny Tomlin, admitted: “Eventually a friend stepped in and managed to grab Martine. I don't know if he would have dropped her.”
However, Martine revealed the shocking abuse and threats made her bond with her mother even stronger and gave them the strength to achieve their dreams.
Martine said: "It's made us really close. In a way we were too close for a while, we didn't trust anyone else. I was frightened if she was out of my life and she was frightened if I was out of her life.
“In a way we just pushed each other to the hilt to be whatever we wanted to be, which in my mum's case was a writer. With my first cheque from EastEnders I bought her a PC and she wrote her first novel on that PC.”
When Martine’s mother left her father, the star, then aged 9, got an injunction against her twisted dad, ordering him not to come within a certain distance of her.
However, despite kicking her father out of her life and finding fame and fortune on TV, Martine has only recently come to terms with the abuse and found the strength to speak out.
And now she hopes her story will encourage others to come forward.
Martine added: "For a long time we wanted to talk about this, but we found ourselves apologising for what had happened. Up until about a year ago I still thought I couldn't talk about and it's only recently I stopped feeling like it was our fault.
"When you are ready even if you're picking up the phone to a TV show, you've got to make a start.”
Poor girl, I am glad she is coping now.
The former EastEnders favourite, 32, told how her sadistic father Thomas Hemmings once dangled her over a balcony when she was just two years old to blackmail her mother into having sex with him.
Martine told This Morning: "He knew that I had become the thing she loved the most. In a way I was a saviour but in another way he'd found her weakness.
"My first memory of my dad is him hanging me over a balcony. I remember just hearing the voices and feeling scared. I can remember hearing my mum reassuring him and him threatening to drop me if she didn't do what he said."
Luckily a friend rescued dangling Martine before her dad could carry out his cruel threats.
Martine’s mother, Jenny Tomlin, admitted: “Eventually a friend stepped in and managed to grab Martine. I don't know if he would have dropped her.”
However, Martine revealed the shocking abuse and threats made her bond with her mother even stronger and gave them the strength to achieve their dreams.
Martine said: "It's made us really close. In a way we were too close for a while, we didn't trust anyone else. I was frightened if she was out of my life and she was frightened if I was out of her life.
“In a way we just pushed each other to the hilt to be whatever we wanted to be, which in my mum's case was a writer. With my first cheque from EastEnders I bought her a PC and she wrote her first novel on that PC.”
When Martine’s mother left her father, the star, then aged 9, got an injunction against her twisted dad, ordering him not to come within a certain distance of her.
However, despite kicking her father out of her life and finding fame and fortune on TV, Martine has only recently come to terms with the abuse and found the strength to speak out.
And now she hopes her story will encourage others to come forward.
Martine added: "For a long time we wanted to talk about this, but we found ourselves apologising for what had happened. Up until about a year ago I still thought I couldn't talk about and it's only recently I stopped feeling like it was our fault.
"When you are ready even if you're picking up the phone to a TV show, you've got to make a start.”
Poor girl, I am glad she is coping now.