Amanda Abbington reveals ex Martin Freeman supported her through Giovanni Pernice Strictly ordeal and branded it ‘awful’
AMANDA Abbington has revealed she has had the full support of her ex-partner, actor and Hobbit star Martin Freeman.
The actress has told how Martin has backed her complaining to Strictly Come Dancing about Giovanni’s behaviour – revealing that he “wanted to kill” the dancer.
The couple have two children Joe, 18, and Grace, 16.
She said: “We talked about it at length for about 45 minutes, and he just said, ‘I’m so sorry that you’re having to go through this’.
“He said, ‘you have my full support. I can’t believe this. This is awful. You don’t deserve it. I want to kill him.’
“He was very angry that this has been allowed because Martin also knew how much I love the show.
“He said ‘It’s so unfair, Amanda, because I remember you would always be like, ‘I want to be in that show. You were so good in it.’”
Amanda’s fiancé Jonathan Goodwin spoke out in support of her just days ago ahead of her appearance on BBC Newsnight.
Jonathan shared a picture of Amanda with Princess Anne and added the caption: “What an amazing woman. Never met anyone so determined to stand up for what’s right. To advocate for the needy and to never cow-tow to the bullying media. The Princess Royal is also amazing.”
Amanda, 50, left the BBC1 show in week six last October, citing personal and medical reasons.
Today she revealed she had found two lumps in her right breast.
She said: “By my final week, on the Thursday morning, I was in the shower and I found two lumps. I’d got the all-clear after a mammogram a couple of months before.
“I went in for rehearsals to do the cha-cha-cha and just couldn’t concentrate. Giovanni said, ‘There’s no point teaching you this because it’s not going in. You can’t get it. We’ll be lucky if we get through because you’re useless’.
“He refused to even look at me so I went to the toilet, came back and said, ‘I’m going to go to the hospital now because I found two lumps in my breast this morning’.
“Then he was great. He said, ‘Well, let me know how it goes’.
“It was the catalyst I’d been sort of waiting for, which is terrible.
“But that’s what I was thinking, that it was a healthier option than being in that room.
“I’ve championed breast cancer charities but there was a part of me that was like, ‘OK, I have to deal with this now instead. Phew’.”
The lumps were later found to be benign.
Strictly's full scandal so far
Strictly Come Dancing's scandal has been growing over the past few months, with several major players speaking out about what went on. Here are the key moments of what's happened so far
16th May: Giovanni Pernice sensationally quits Strictly Come Dancing after nine years on the show.
17th May: Giovanni becomes the centre of an official investigation after three former partners – believed to be Amanda Abbington, Laura Whitmore and Ranvir Singh – make complaints to the BBC.
16th June: Giovanni releases an official statement vowing to clear his name and denies any wrongdoing.
8th July: Strictly confirms Aljaz Skorjanec will return to the series, replacing Giovanni, after initially quitting the show two years ago.
10th July: Amanda Abbington launches fresh legal proceedings to get the rehearsal footage from her time with Giovanni, after allegedly he refused to release the videos.
13th July: Graziano Di Prima is axed from Strictly for “gross misconduct” after footage of his treatment of Zara McDermott is brought to the attention of the BBC.
Graziano quickly broke his silence, apologising for his behaviour in a statement and saying he “deeply regrets it”, adding his “intense passion and determination to win might have affected his training regime.”
15th July: Strictly bosses implement new duty of care protocols, including having a chaperone present throughout all rehearsals.
16th July: Zara McDermott speaks out publicly for first time. She states while the production team were “amazing to work with”, she found the rehearsal room “completely different”, confirming there’s footage of “certain situations”.
19th July: Anton Du Beke is put under the spotlight for his “1970s attitude” and treatment of female celeb stars, particularly after allegedly referring to 2009 partner Laila Rouass as a “p***” after getting a spray tan.
21st July: Paralympian Will Bayley, who has limb condition arthrogryposis, revealed he was encouraged to leap from a table during a dance routine, despite fears. The stunt caused an injury that forced him to withdraw from the show.
22nd July: MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace admits he broke down in tears and got a nasty stress rash on his face during his time on Strictly in 2014.
22nd July: Despite ongoing issues, the Strictly professional cast begin rehearsals for this year’s series.
23rd July: Celebrity agent Melanie Blake claims she was sexually assaulted by an unnamed pro dancer while backstage on the show, and claims she witnessed ageism, rudeness and a rough treatment to the point of injury.
23rd July: Strictly is forced to beef up security after ‘an intruder scales the wall of the rehearsal studio’.
23rd July: BBC boss Tim Davie breaks his silence on the ongoing allegations against Strictly, saying he is ‘deeply sorry’, adding: “Hundreds of people, be they pros, contestants or crew have been part of it and had a brilliant experience.
“At the same time if someone thinks there was something wrong or they want to talk about their experience then of course we want them to raise that with us. Be in no doubt we will take it seriously, listen and deal with it as appropriate.”
24th July: Strictly 2023 star Krishnan Guru-Murthy holds a bombshell interview with Amanda Abbington on Channel 4 news, where she claims she was bullied, with some of the ‘humilation being of a sexual nature’.
27th July: Laura Whitmore releases a statement regarding her Strictly experience, saying “I thought my experience was specific to me but I’ve since learned I was wrong”.
She adds she is not part of the official complaint, but has come forward to support Amanda with the BBC, alongside others.
28th July: Laila Rouass speaks out against the accusations regarding Anton Du Beke, saying she “never felt pressured” by him and “personally insisted on six to seven hours training a day”.
10th August: Graziano breaks his silence on his Strictly axe, saying “these vile, false allegations have ruined my life.”
He also told of the “shocking” end to his friendship with Zara McDermott.
We also revealed that Amanda Abbington was also quizzed for a second time as Strictly execs recruited 15 new staff to monitor rehearsals.
11th August: Just as the investigation was expected to conclude, Amanda made a dramatic intervention. Giovanni was on the brink of being cleared until Amanda handed in more text messages.
24th August: Graziano Di Prima called in top lawyers to sue the BBC and to try to clear his name. He recruited big hitters Whitestone Chambers to fight his corner.
A source said: “They’ve also looked at his BBC contract and believe there are grounds to sue.”
Meanwhile, the BBC also delayed releasing the findings of the probe into Giovanni Pernice. The Sun revealed that the results of the three-month investigation were unlikely to be announced in August.