Alex Scott reveals she sought therapy over alcohol issues due to fears she would follow the same path as her alcoholic father following traumatic childhood with domestic abuse

Alex Scott has discussed how she had therapy over alcohol issues after fearing she would follow the same path as her father.

The football pundit, 39, claims her father Tony was a 'controlling, violent drunk'  who was 'stupidly cruel' and would abuse, both physical and mental, she, her older brother, Ronnie, and mother, Carol.

Tony previously vehemently denied the allegations when she made the claims in her memoir How (Not) To Be Strong, released in 2022. 

Alex explained how she felt she was trying to solve problems by turning to booze and sought out help from a therapist to address her concerns.

When Alex was eight years-old her mother left her dad, but the sport star remained with deep psychological wounds which she only addressed in 2018 when she decided to start therapy. 

Speaking candidly in an interview with The Times, she said: 'If I had any problems, I thought, "A drink will get rid of it"', before adding, 'I’ll always be in therapy. It has done so much for me.'

Even with therapy Alex still experiences the effect her father has had on her life and finds it hard to show physical affection.  

'We weren’t allowed to express emotion. Dad didn’t allow us to hug each other or say "I love you". It had a huge impact on us all. To this day, if I want to show people love, I’ll do it by taking them out to dinner and paying.'

Yet Alex has recently found love once again with singer Jess Glynne after the pair 'hard launched' their relationship at the Brits back in February.  

Last July Alex was announced as an ambassador for domestic abuse charity Refuge, after speaking out about the abuse she experienced from her father.

The star said it was 'an incredible honour' to be joining the charity, with whom she was already working with closely since the launch of her candid memoir. 

She added that she wants to use her voice and platform to spread awareness of domestic abuse and 'ensure that women know what support is available.'

Refuge have said that they are extremely 'proud' and 'grateful' to Alex for her previous and continuing support. 

Alex previously revealed how she didn't communicate with her mother about her troubled childhood until the release of her book. 

Appearing on Loose Women last year she said: 'I think that in the world I grew up in, everyone had a perception that you have to be strong and I needed to do is strip that back and show my emotions and vulnerability.' 

Breaking down in tears she continued: 'We felt like we couldn't do anything, and you wanted to save your mum. I thought I was better now and would be okay, but the visuals come back.

'You're just laying in bed hearing everything and praying your mum is going to be alive in the morning. 

'My mum is my everything and I want to give her everything. Victims think they're cowards, but my mum isn't a coward and she saved me and my brother.

'We didn't know how to communicate about it until the book. I did a lot of therapy to break generational cycles. I was ready to talk and my mum wasn't. And she loved it and learned so much about me and how me and my brother were affected.'

Tony previously denied Alex's allegations in a statement to MailOnline and said he couldn't understand why she was portraying him in this way. 

He cried: 'I have no idea why she's saying all this stuff. I was raised in a strict but loving Jamaican family and Alex should know what they are like. I taught her discipline, I did a lot to help her.

'Perhaps she is judging me by today's standards, I don't know. Parents were a lot tougher back then. But I was never violent, that's just not me. I never beat Alex or anyone else in the family or did anything like that.'

Alex then fired back after the interview as she told the BBC: 'I almost feel angry at myself that I'm allowing him to hurt me again by those claims.' 

Speaking about her coping mechanisms as a child, Alex previously said: '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 out 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...

'What my mum would go through, the terror, the helplessness that you can't do anything, you're just living in fear.'

• Help and support is available at www.womensaid.org.uk or  contact Refuge for free on 0808 2000 247.