Alex Scott held back tears as she reflected on her difficult upbringing on ITV's Loose Women on Monday.
The former professional footballer appeared on the programme to talk about her new memoir, How (Not) To Be Strong, in which she discusses her incredible journey, from her tumultuous childhood to her glittering football career.
Before her parents divorced when she was seven years old, both Alex and her brother Ronnie would regularly hear their father physically abuse their mother, Carol.
When asked by Ruth Langsford how difficult is was for her and her brother to witness their mum's abuse at the hands of their dad, Alex's voice began to tremble as she began: "It's hard because we felt we couldn't do anything and you want to be there to save your mum and she's also doing the same for us.
"It's weird because obviously the paperback comes out tomorrow and I was like, 'No, I'm in a better place, I can talk about it'. But straight away you have the visuals and you go straight back to those moments, which are hard," she explained, with tears in her eyes.
Ruth later asked how she felt when she was lying awake at night listening to her mother being abused by her father, to which Alex, 38, responded: "You're just laying in bed hearing everything and just praying and hoping that your mum is going to alive in the morning and then once she is and you're in an environment when you're controlled and not being able to show love, what can you do?
"That's why my mum is everything and I wanted to give her the world. Survivors of domestic violence and abuse, their life is stripped from them. They think they're cowards and I want to show my mum, and I can't stop telling her how incredible and amazing she is and she isn't a coward and she actually saved me and my brother."
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Alex previously opened up about her childhood while appearing on an episode of Steven Bartlett's podcast, The Diary of a CEO.
Speaking about the long-term impact her upbringing has had on her life, she revealed: "To this day I can't hug my mum. I don't think I've ever hugged my brother because of that environment."
Explaining how playing football became a refuge for her, she continued: "The football cage was a safe space. I felt fun, I felt free and at home I was locked in, it was an environment where it was very much controlled. I wanted to love my dad so much, I was daddy's little girl, but he had this dark side and that's a side we saw a lot of growing up.
"Drink helped it come out a lot more, you could see him turn, that's how he took it out on all of us, more so my mum. From a baby I could feel it, the environment we're in. If you step out of line you know what's going to happen and you don't want that to happen."
She added: "What my mum would go through, the terror, the helplessness that you can't do anything, you're just living in fear."
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