‘Those sounds will never leave me’ Alex Scott hauntingly recalls living ‘in fear’ as child

Alex Scott has looked back on her childhood and how her “stupidly cruel” dad would cause her to live “in fear”.

Alex Scott, 37, has hauntingly revisited the years when she used to live in her family home in a tower block in Poplar, East London. The BBC star opened up about her father’s violent temperament and the fear his actions installed in her when she was just a child. 

Recounting how she would lie awake at night listening for possible signs of violence, Alex said she felt “helpless”. 

She went on: “All I could do was lie there and pray my mum would be alive in the morning.” “Control was everything to my dad,” the broadcaster added in an interview with The Times. Alex also explained how people who met her and her brother during family outings believed they were well-behaved children – but the reality was much more haunting.

The footballer said: “People would say, ‘Oh, ain’t they so well behaved?’“But we sat there in fear. We did as we were told because we knew what would happen to us later if we didn’t.”But the siblings were not the only ones living in fear of their dad, Tony.

Alex’s mum, Carol, was once beaten so badly by her dad that the presenter was scared to even make eye contact.

The TV star, who has made 140 appearances for the England women’s national football team, has recently opened up about her mental health battle.

She admitted she was “put on an act throughout her life” while trying to deal with the downsides of her career. Alex revealed she has even turned to alcohol but has since been seeking “freedom” in all aspects of her media career.

After retiring from her hugely successful career playing for the Arsenal Women’s Team, Alex began presenting.

However, the new career change came with its disadvantages as she became the focus of online trolling on social media. The sports star said she turned to drink and added no one had any “idea what [she] went through”.

Alex made the revelation in a recent interview while promoting her book How (Not) To Be Strong.

She anticipated readers will be “in shock” when they find out about her life behind the cameras.

Alex said: “I’ve lived my whole life putting on an act, and there’s a lot of things in it that people will have no idea that I went through.