LOOSE Women’s Denise Welch has opened up about her horror domestic abuse battle, revealing her ex partner once threw a table at a man for smiling at her.

Speaking today on a special dedicated to the cause, Denise, 66, shared the shocking details of the toxic relationship with an unnamed man.

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Denise Welch has opened up about her horror domestic abuse battleCredit: ITV

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She was supported by her co-starsCredit: ITV
She told viewers how his manipulation and emotional abuse slowly stripped away her sense of self.

Denise began: “I fell in love with this incredibly charismatic man, very, very good-looking, and I thought that my whole life had aligned and this was the person for me.”

However, as the relationship progressed, things began to change.

She explained: “Then, of course, you don’t realise what’s happening, so he started to chip, chip, chip away at my personality.”

Denise described how the abuser systematically undermined her confidence, targeting aspects of her personality that had once made her feel popular and loved.

She continued: “Personality traits that I thought made me quite popular suddenly became detrimental, and he would say things like, ‘You know your friends aren’t laughing with you, they’re laughing at you.’

“‘You know, when you told that joke that they all laughed at, why did you tell that joke? It was rude. They were all rolling their eyes at each other,’ and you start to slowly believe.”

She also revealed how her partner’s dysfunction and jealousy played a huge role in the abuse.

“What they do is as well, is that they very, very often have a dysfunctional family of their own. And this is sort of a part of narcissistic personality disorder,” she explained.

“Because I was close to my family, bearing in mind probably three phone calls a week from a call box, because we didn’t have mobile phones, I was obsessed with my family.

“And so they very slowly start to bring you apart, but also the jealousy that comes, which is unbelievable, is because it’s your fault.”

One particular instance stands out for Denise, which she described as a chilling moment in their relationship.

She said: “Before I was on the telly, nobody knew who I was, we were sat in a restaurant together and I was facing the door.

“The door opened and a couple walked in, and we just made eye contact, so I smiled at them and they smiled at me.

“He saw, he turned around and he looked at the guy, and I’m not going to say exactly what he said, but the table went up and he said, ‘You want to… my girlfriend, right?’

When asked how these actions made her feel, Denise confessed the emotional turmoil she went through.

She said: “You can imagine that any normal person listening to that story would say, ‘Why did you not just leave?’

“But you are so desperate to change that person, and they make you feel like you are the centre of their life.”

Denise is now happily married to Lincoln Townley, a millionaire contemporary artist and former PR manager from London.

Lincoln married Denise in 2013 with a fairytale wedding in the Algarve, Portugal.

At the time, Lincoln told the Daily Mail: “My most brilliant achievement was persuading Denise to marry me.

“I turned 40 last year and I have never met anyone like Denise, never been close to anyone like Denise, never loved anyone like I do Denise.”

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Denise is now happily married to Lincoln TownleyCredit: Instagram