I’m a celeb: Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson shares family heartache over dad’s addictions

Former Australian Idol judge Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson has revealed the devastating neglect he endured as a young boy at the hands of his “brute” father.

Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson has told how his father was such a brute that even his own mother stabbed him.

In an emotional segment on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me out of Here! Dickson shocked campmates by recalling how his father was an alcoholic, a user and a fighter.

“My dad was a brute, he spent five years in the SAS in Malaysia in the 1950s,’’ the TV host said.

“I never got on with my dad that well. He’s not a great dad and pretty violent. All through my youth I’ve seen him destroy one, two, three blokes in a fight. He’s a little bloke and he used to box for the SAS as well and he was a weapon.

“He became an alcoholic and he never really stopped being a user. I think because he was from a shit background and had had a shit lot in life and he was fairly brutal, it carried through his whole life.”

Ian 'Dicko' Dickson breaks down in the jungle camp on I'm A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! Picture: Network 10

Dickson, who grew up in England, said he was never close with his father and was taken aback when he learned his stab wound was from his own mother.

“He was from a pretty tough upbringing, he grew up in war and grew up with a really brutal father,’’ he said.

“Even his mum, my nan, was hardcore. He’s got a stab wound in his back that I assumed was from the army and he told me later in life it was from his mum. He wound her up so much that she turned around with a break knife and went for him. And he turned around and she stuck a knife in his back.”

The Australian Idol personality said his mum was his angel and he vowed to always be a better man than his father.

“I was never close with my father, he was absent a lot so I never got to forge the sort of relationship with my dad that I did with my mum who was an ever present in my life growing up and was very much my angel, my inspiration,’’ Dickson said.

Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson has revealed in an emotional segment on I’m a Celeb how his father treated him poorly as a child. Picture: Network 10

“(Dad) moved to Italy when I was in university and was in Geneva and I thought I’ve got kids now maybe they should know their grandad so I paid for his ticket and invited him back but he behaved really badly and every time I paid for him to come back he just behaved worse and worse. Then when I moved to Australia I thought actually I don’t need him in my life.”

He added: “My mum was my angel but he was my driving my force because he never provided for the family and I always said I’m going to provide for my family.

“No matter how much you try and grow up and evolve into the sort of man your dad wasn’t, I find myself behaving in a way where I’m like oh my god that’s just like my father. You have to accept everyone’s got good points, and my dad was a fabulous entertainer so if I’ve inherited any of those things from him I guess I have to accept them with good grace as well.”

I’m a Celebrity is on Sunday-Thursday 7.30pm on Network 10.