Ben Shephard admitted that violence was prevalent during his childhood as he reacted to the backlash Gemma Atkinson has been targeted with.

A full-blown row was triggered over on social media when the Hollyoaks actress and TV star told her Instagram followers that she had once pinched her son Thiago to “teach him a lesson” and, most notably due to his young age, many failed to agree with her reasoning.

This Wednesday, August 2, Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley discussed the matter on the set of This Morning, aired on ITV, moments after celebrating Lorraine Kelly’s 40th anniversary on our screens.

But as he gave his view on the Gemma Atkinson row, the presenter, 49, said that physical violence was once a prominent part of family life, and he experienced it first-hand.

Ben Shephard admitted that violence was present in his childhood home – until he grew up ( 
Image:
ITV)

“It was a very different era when we were being brought up”, he first said while turning to Gyles Brandreth, “smacking was certainly very prevalent in my house. Until it got to the age where it became quite funny. Because it didn’t hurt and my mum couldn’t catch me.”

This comes after 39-year-old Gemma, who is engaged to Strictly Come Dancing professional Gorka Marquez, took to social media earlier this week to talk about the differences between the couple’s two children – son Thiago, one, and daughter Mia, four. In a post on her Instagram Story, she explained that her youngest child had even hurt his sister during one of his tantrums.

“Toys are just banged or slid across the floor and the tantrums are new as Mia didn’t have them. He pretend cries and throws himself on the floor. I stand and watch until he realises it’s getting him nowhere and they are slowly getting shorter. He pinches when he gets frustrated. I did it back to him on Wednesday as he did it hard to Mia. He’s not done it since”, Gemma shared at the time.

On Tuesday, after fans had been left shocked by their insight into her family life, Gemma decided to respond to critics with a scathing message: “I was on the radio tonight, and my agent emailed me. Well, she sent me an email from a journalist from the Daily Fail. Says it all.”

Gemma frowned as she recited the email, which read: “‘I’m writing a story on Gemma Atkinson, saying she’s done an Instagram post about pinching her son, but she’s removed the post because she’s been slammed. She hosts a podcast called Mum’s The Word and hosts a show on CBeebies.’” This left Gemma in a rage as she clapped back at the reporter’s claims.