Whether he’s waltzing on the dance floor, or judging contestants, we love Strictly Come Dancing legend Anton du Beke.
Anton opens up about his childhood
In a recent interview with Kate Garraway on her Life Stories series on ITV, Anton revealed that his father stabbed him in the leg and stomach on Boxing day when he was a child.
The attack happened in their family home in Kent and Anton was forced to spend three days in hospital recovering from his injuries.
Speaking about the incident during the interview, Anton said, "I got stabbed in the leg and in the stomach because of a fight on Boxing Day and it was an idiotic situation.
"I remember walking out of the house to walk up to the hospital holding my leg and a police car drove past and I waved them down and I said 'he's in there with a knife'.
"Anyway, they carted him off and I ended up in hospital for three or four days. My only concern was getting back into the studio and dancing and the embarrassment of it."
Anton shared that it was his father's alcoholism which drove him to stab him after he had "taken a turn" and that friends and family could be shocked to hear about the incident as it was the first time he'd openly spoken about it as he never saw any gain from talking about it.
Speaking about his dad's relationship with alcohol, Anton shared, "The alcoholism and the violence... towards me, because I was a boy, a young man I suppose.
"You've got an alcoholic father and a situation where if you're in the house, (he's) drinking then you end up with the fights and stuff.
"You'd move room to get away from all of it and then he follows you in and the next thing you know the violence starts and then it came to a head one evening, I ended up in hospital for three days."
Out of everyone, it was his mum Anton felt the most sorry for in the situation.
"Everything was about moving forwards, I felt sorry for my mum, this was her husband, she's working two jobs and he chose to drink and be violent, it's just life and you carry on," he said.
As Anton's dancing career became increasingly successful, he decided to change his name from Tony Beke to Anton Due Beke.
Speaking about this decision with Kate, he said, "I wanted a new start and a new beginning and I wanted to leave what went before, behind, and then move on with the rest of my life, I just wanted to be me."
As for his father, he was cleared in court of stabbing his son, but when he passed away, Anton did not attend his funeral.
Anton and Giovanni’s Adventures in Sicily
Most recently, we've been loving seeing Anton and fellow dancer Giovanni Pernice on their adventures in Sicily.
The dancing duo are currently embarking on their own adventure in their latest series, Anton and Giovanni’s Adventures in Sicily. This three episode road-trip follows the friends around Giovanni's home of Sicily.
If you missed it, you can catch up with the series on BBC iPlayer.
Who is Anton Du Beke?
Although he is considered Strictly Come Dancing’s newest judges sitting alongside Craig Revel Horwood, Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse, you’ll also recognise him from his time spent on the dance floor as a professional dancer on the show too. The professional dancer was clearly destined for the dance floor as he took up dancing when he was just 10-years-old.
In an exclusive interview with Yours, he says firmly, “I see my future with Strictly forever. I have no desire to leave the show at all. I love it as much now as I always have because of the joy I get from doing it. I love everything about it.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Anton Du Beke including who he’s married to, his twin children and how he danced his way to a successful career.
Anthony Paul Beke is a British ballroom and Latin dancer and presenter, best known for appearing as a judge and professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing. He was born in Kent and started dancing at the age of 10, before taking part in competitions a few years later. The ambitious Anton left school when he was just 16 to pursue a career in dancing.
Anton won the New Zealand Championships twice, in 1998 and 1999, with his regular dance partner, Erin Boag, and in 2002 they began competing in the UK. When Strictly started in 2004, Anton became one of the professional dancers on the show. Sadly, Anton hasn't become a Strictly winner, but he did get through to the final in 2015 and 2019. He also filled in a couple of times for Strictly judge Motsi Mabuse in 2020 and was clearly in his element, as afterwards he said: “'I loved every second of it. It was lovely to be able to sit there and enjoy the dancing and then comment on all the things I love about it, which was always going to be my steer about it.” In 2021, he was made a permanent judge on the show to replace Bruno Tonioli.
The judge told us that he believes positivity has helped to get him where he is today: “I always try to have a positive mindset. If you want to go somewhere, make a decision now about how you are going to get there. You will find you are on a better path than if you do nothing and stay as you are. I have always been the sort of person that thinks that you can eventually do what you like.”
How old is Anton Du Beke?
Anton was born on 20 July 1996, currently making him 56 years old.
Is Anton Du Beke married?
The Strictly judge is married to Hannah Summers, a marketing executive, who previously worked as a chief marketing officer for a mobile network security company. The couple were together for six years before tying the knot in 2017.
He met Hannah 11 years ago now, and speaking about her as a mum, he said, “She is an amazing mum. She makes everything adventurous and fun. They rarely sit in front of their iPads.”
Anton Du Beke's family
In November 2017 Anton shared an adorable post on his Instagram to announce that he and Hannah were expecting twins. Posting a picture of a top hat, with two little shoes beneath it, he wrote: "Hannah and I are delighted to announce that we are expecting twins in the spring. We are over the moon!".
The couple were pictured leaving a hospital in Berkshire with their newborns, George and Henrietta. It’s reported that they had been trying for a family for a while, before deciding to have IVF. Anton even shared with us that fatherhood has kept him feeling youthful: “I love everything about it. It’s a brilliant thing. I like to think I’m an excellent dad but you’d have to ask my wife — and my children!”
Anton admits that in the past, he was very career-focused. But since marrying his wife Hannah in 2017, and welcoming their twins George and Henrietta, now five, in the same year, his priorities have shifted. He says, “I was determined and focused and I lived in a world of ‘me’ and now I live in a world of us.’I think my children are just perfect. But I would say that. I’d have 100 if I could!”
The twins are now aware of his fame, he reveals, “They love Strictly and watched it last year. One of George’s friends came round for a play date the other day and George opened the door and said to the mum: Did you know that Anton du Beke from Strictly Come Dancing is my Daddy? It was so funny.”
In previous years, he has hinted the twins were taking after him saying, “They love singing and dancing – it’s gorgeous. I can’t wait to sing a song or do a dance with them on stage. That would be a dream come true.”
Anton on Strictly
It’s clear the public never want him to leave the show after he recently won Best Talent Show Judge at the National TV Awards. We also love him on the Strictly Come Dancing tour which he's now going to be a judge on too.
Anton, who is one of the show’s originals alongside Tess Daly and Craig Revel Horwood, admits he has a great relationship with fellow judges.
“In between the series, the judges are all busy doing their own thing. Motsi lives in Germany but we have lots of fun working together, and I really respect Craig’s opinion about things in the industry. I saw him in the summer when he came up to see my show with Giovanni (Pernice). I’ve known Shirley for 35 years. When she competed as a Latin American dancer, in her pomp, she was the best female dancer we've ever had.”
He laughs, “I hope Craig goes back to his normal self this series. He wasn’t nice for 18 years to any of my celebrity partners and then suddenly, over the last two years, he was nice. It made me feel a bit discombobulated!”
Away from the Strictly bubble, Anton still enjoys sell-out tours with his professional dance partner Erin Boag, and more recently he has been on the road in Him & Me with Strictly’s Giovanni Pernice, who won the competition last year with the show’s first deaf contestant Rose Ayling-Ellis. The friends will tour again next year. He says with understatement, “So it’s been a busy year!”
Anton's favourite time of year
Being so family orientated and having such a positive and uplifting outlook on life, we're not surprised he's such a big fan of the festive period, and there are a few Christmas traditions he looks forward to each year.
“I can’t wait! I’m ridiculous with Christmas anyway – I love decking the house with fairy lights, and having Christmas trees; we will have about three or four scattered around the house.
“I don’t cook a thing though, Hannah is amazing at it. After a turkey dinner we watch the musical film version of Scrooge.
“I go mad with presents and give away hundreds – I’m literally like Santa – I get carried away and have to rein myself in. And now I have children – it’s joyous. They love a present so it will be the best thing!
“I occasionally get it wrong with Hannah though. She’s not ungrateful but sometimes she will say... I hope you kept the receipt for this!”
Anton Du Beke books
The professional dancer is also a talented writer and has written a number of bestselling romantic historical novels set in the Buckingham Hotel in Thirties London centred on dance character, Raymond de Guise. During the lockdowns he finished his book ‘A Christmas to Remember’ and told us: “I am thrilled with this book. I’ll just keep going and there are more books to come. I love working on it, and talking about it, developing the characters and the journey they go on.
“There is an engagement at the beginning of this book — and at the end, there is a Christmas wedding. In between you have all the shenanigans of what’s going on in the hotel, and the hotel director, Maynard Charles, has got a big story this time as well.”
His latest romantic novel, We’ll Meet Again, is out in paperback, and the fifth book in his bestselling Buckingham Hotel series, Ballroom Blitz, was published in October.
He says, “I’m thrilled the novel’s been so well received. I like to set the story around real events. I feel like I actually know the characters and I hope that translates to readers.
“A lot of the characters are people I’ve either met over the years or nuances of various people. You write about what you know.”
Is Anton Du Beke on social media?
You can keep up to date with Anton by following him on Instagram and Twitter.