The great Shakespearean actor Sir Patrick Stewart made a shocking confession, a confession of his soul, to the ITV network as part of a documentary (“Her Majesty: Behind Closed Doors”) dealing with Queen Camilla’s social work for victims of domestic abuse.

Now 84, Stewart, also known for his role as Picard in Star Trek, revealed that when he was young he would ‘scream’ at his father to stop hitting his mother ‘over and over again’.

Mr. Stewart listened to his father’s terrifying outbursts along with his older brother, and the two became “experts” at knowing when they needed to step in to protect their mother.

The veteran actor – whose career spans seven decades – also spoke of the “shame” and “humiliation” he experienced while witnessing the abuse which led him to later seek treatment.

He also mentioned how he begged his mother to leave their father, and even offered to buy her a house once he became a successful actor.

But the British actor said that at some point he painfully realized that his mother “would never leave him (his father)”.

He explained how his “perfect” life was turned upside down when he was just six years old and his father returned from World War II.

He said: “The war ended in 1945, so when my father came home, I was six years old, and it was horrible… The voices were so loud because he had a heavy voice. I was screaming at my father to stop when he was hitting my mother and hitting her over and over again.”

He added: My brother and I became ‘experts’ in understanding where the voices would end up, what it would lead to, and we always knew when the violence would start. So we’d push the door open and go into the room, and my brother, Trevor, who was taller than me, was trying to get between my father and my mother so he couldn’t get to her and she’d yell, “No, no, no, please. You don’t need to protect me”.

Patrick Stewart pointed out that he took up boxing at school so that he could face his father and put him in his place, so that if he hurt his mother, he would “get worse”.

Patrick Stewart Jr. (R) with his mother Gladys, and his brother Trevor

The award-winning actor spoke of the anguish he felt as a young man because he felt “responsible” for his mother’s suffering.

The family lived in poverty in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in the late 1940s. Stewart’s father, Alfred, was a decorated war hero and a veteran of Dunkirk. The 84-year-old actor believes that Alfred suffered from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as a result of the war, which made him violent towards his loving mother, Gladys.

Mr. Stewart revealed how domestic violence was something people never talked about back then, so she kept it a secret. “I kept it all to myself. I had it “locked” inside, and I felt ashamed, and of course I also felt responsible.”

However, he believes that his mother’s death in 1977 left his father “devastated”. She said: “He (Alfred) is so missed. It’s so complicated and heartbreaking. It doesn’t go away (sadness).”