‘Loaded gun’: Dave Hughes makes harrowing confession about living in fear growing up

Dave Hughes has recalled a horrifying incident during his childhood, revealing that he was left constantly living in fear.

Australian radio personality Dave Hughes has opened up about his childhood and how he regularly lived in fear of his father.

During Monday’s episode of ABC’s Australian Story, Hughsey shared a harrowing insight into what shaped him into the man he has become today.

Recounting an episode from his childhood, the comedian said that if he saw his father Desmond’s car in the driveway after school, he knew instantly it was about to be a very difficult night as it meant his dad hadn’t gone to work and was likely drinking instead.

“There were definitely times feeling stressed and scared, a lot of times,” he said.

“Knowing there’s a loaded gun in the house and someone who is not mentally stable and drunk in the house, it’s not a relaxing way to go through your childhood.”

Hughsey has opened up about his childhood. Picture: ABC

“I still remember when he brought it out one day and said, ‘I will shoot you all.’ That wasn’t relaxing.”

His father was an alcoholic, and Hughsey, who went on to struggle with addiction issues of his own during his adolescence, said he would lash out at the family over his personal demons.

“Mum was very patient, and he did have many loveable characteristics. She wasn’t a complainer. Very stoic, very matter of fact,” he continued.

While his experience with his dad was far from pleasant, Hughsey shared a close bond with his mother.

She’d been raised in an orphanage, became a nurse, married Desmond and, despite her husband’s drinking and volatile moods, managed to hold the family together.

Hughsey would later find himself abusing alcohol in a similar way to his father, and would regularly black out and forget entire nights or days. It reached a point where the radio personality wondered whether he was suffering from mental illness.

Hughsey says he doesn't hold a grudge against his father [left]. Picture: ABC

He went to his mum for support, who took him to a doctor to get to the truth.

“I hated myself. I thought I was schizophrenic. My mum took me to a doctor who said I’m not, but that my lifestyle wasn’t helping me”.

At 21, after a final bender that he claimed last a whopping eight weeks, Hughsey quit drinking once and for all and hasn’t touched a drop since.

“I had the thought, ‘I don’t want alcohol to control my life, and as I’d seen it, control family members’ lives’. I didn’t want to be that. So, that was a big part of the reason why I stopped drinking. I felt like I’d taken the power back.”

It was only when his mother died 18 months ago that he began to start openly talking about his father’s struggles with alcohol.

“People do what they do with the best of their abilities,” he added. “I didn’t hold a grudge against him at all, even though I’ve gone down a different path in the way I live my life. He was a wise man in many ways who would always say that family is number one and as I was chasing success over the years, maybe I didn’t agree with that. But now as I get older, I realise he was right.”

Originally published as ‘Loaded gun’: Dave Hughes makes harrowing confession about living in fear growing up