The Repair Shop’s Suzie Fletcher has told how her abusive husband once told the ‘cruel lie’ that her brother Steve was terminally ill.
The TV star’s husband James – referred to by his alias Rob in her book – died more than 10 years ago. The Repair Shop’s star has since talked about the litany of abuse she suffered at his hands during their 15-year marriage.
This included trying to turn her against her family. After visiting relatives in the UK, her late husband told her that her sibling – who she is very close to – was ‘seriously ill, probably terminally’ on their return to the US, where the couple were based.
Suzie told the What I Wish I’d Known podcast: “He tried (to turn me against my family). He did try and that was not going to happen. He also was very cruel. On one visit we came back to the UK and I’m incredibly close to my brother Steve.
“And he and Steve were spending a lot of time together. We’d got back to the US and he said: ‘I’m going to tell you now, your brother is seriously ill, probably terminal. He’s told me this in confidence so you can’t tell anybody.
Suzie Fletcher on The Repair Shop with Jay Blades and Keithly Brandy
(Image: BBC / Ricochet)
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“So that’s my brother, who is terminally ill. It wasn’t (true). He was frightening me, he was testing me, so for a long time, every time I talked to Steve I’d say: ‘Alright. How’s your health?’
“I do remember saying to him: ‘Well Steve’s fine.’ And he’d say: ‘Well that’s good. What a relief.’ So you begin to lose your remind sadly and it gets reflected back on you.”
Suzie’s husband James died in 2013 from pancreatic cancer, with the death coming as a shock to the entire family as no one knew he was ill.
After his death Suzie joined BBC’s The Repair Shop in 2018 in time for its second series.
Suzie’s late husband told her that her brother was terminally ill
(Image: BBC)
Remembering an emotional conversation with her husband prior to his passing, the presenter remembered he hoped their union ‘wasn’t all bad’. Suzie said that looking back on their relationship, some of the signs of abuse are clearer now than they were at the time.
She told the podcast: “He had made me very dependent on him. It’s one of those things I do question, whether it was intentional or just the way he operated.
“We know so much more about gaslighting and these terms of grooming, and codependency, and coercive behaviour. These are terms I now know. I didn’t know then.
“I couldn’t rationalise this behaviour before. This is a man who loved me so I must have deserved that. Obviously I didn’t deserve that, no way.”
The Repair Shop returns to BBC One tonight (Wednesday, January 15) at 8pm.