LISA TELLS: THE TRUTH ABOUT MY DAD

The swimming champion opens up about the horrific family abuse she witnessed growing up

Lisa Curry’s life has been filled with accolades, challenges and triumphs. And while the Commonwealth Games gold medal winner has mainly kept her personal life to herself, last week she bravely opened up for the first time about a dark family secret she’s held in for decades.

The star of an upcoming episode of SBS’ Who Do You Think You Are, Lisa, 58, has spoken of witnessing domestic abuse between her mother Pat and father Roy.

“There was quite a few years where we had pretty horrific domestic violence in our household,’’ Lisa said in an interview with The Courier-Mail. “As children we would witness the fights and Dad hitting Mum, and the bruises,” she adds.

And while the abuse sent ripples throughout the family, Lisa says her mother took years to leave him.

“Mum always said, ‘I’ve got three kids and a grand piano...

where am I going to go?” she says. “She couldn’t leave.”