Strictly's Pete Wicks saved his mum's life aged just 12 after 'shock' discovery
Pete Wicks makes his debut in the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom tonight and guaranteed to be cheering him on his biggest fan, his mum Tracy. The bond the mother and son share is a special one because Pete saved his mum’s life aged just 12.
In his new memoir, the former Towie star reveals how he found Tracy in their kitchen after she attempted suicide. Pete phoned his nan Doreen for help and then called an ambulance, all while trying to stem the flow of blood from her wounds.
“I saw her sitting at the table, which had been covered in blood,” recalls the star. “I saw the blood dripping first. She was holding a knife in her other hand. Immediately, I ran over to her to take the knife from her hand. Before that, she had seemed almost possessed – it was like my mum had gone and someone (or something) else had taken over her body.”
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“But when I came over to her, it’s like she woke up. She looked up at me with eyes full of tears. ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,’ she kept repeating. I told her it was okay as I panicked trying to work out what to do. I called Nan. I could barely get the words out to describe what had happened. I think I basically just said, ‘Mum... knife... blood.’”
Nan Doreen calmly told 12-year-old Pete to hang up and ring 999. “I took her instructions, calling the ambulance, and then I got to work trying to look after Mum, who by that point was sitting on the floor and bleeding very badly. I grabbed towels to try to stop the bleeding. I poured the wine down the sink. It’s hard to pinpoint how I felt in that moment, because I think it was just pure shock. I didn’t cry – I just went into crisis mode.”
Luckily, Tracy made a fast recovery and was quickly out of hospital. She apologised to her son and said it was a “moment of madness” that would never happen again.
Pete says the aftermath of the trauma had a big impact on his life, seeing him become protective of Tracy. She raised him as a single mum with Doreen in Harlow, Essex, after she split from Pete’s dad when Pete was 11. But he also says he blamed himself for what happened.
It’s only in more recent years that the pair have properly talked about the past. Pete says in his book, Never Enough, “It’s only in the last few years that I’ve processed a lot of what has happened and I’ve had some really open conversations with her
“I don’t blame my mum for any of it,” he adds. “I just wish I could take all that pain away.”
Meanwhile., Pete's already hitting the headlines with his Strictly stint after he was spotted getting close to professional dancer Jowita Przystał at the National TV Awards this week.