BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Toyah Willcox reveals she was victim of ‘terrifying’ knife attack

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Toyah Willcox has opened up about her harrowing experience of being attacked at knifepoint. The 66 year old singer, gearing up for her Strictly debut on the BBC show this weekend, described the terrifying incident that occurred while she was out walking with a friend during her teenage years. Toyah recalled the chilling encounter, detailing how she and her pal Dawn were set upon by attackers in their youth, managing to narrowly escape harm by threatening to ‘unleash the devil’ on her aggressor. Writing in her autobiography, Living Out Loud, Toyah told readers how she had to try not to show any fear during the attack and had to wait for the “right moment of escape”. “Dawn and I were in a café frequented by a frightening gang of Angels. Dawn was more worldly-wise than me. She enjoyed male company and didn’t seem disturbed by the fact that these guys were armed up to the hilt with knuckle-dusters and blades,” the star began telling readers in her memoir. She continued: “After the café, we went to a pub, then did some window-shopping down the High Street, and they decided they wanted to go to the nearby park. Walking ahead with Dawn I begged her to catch a bus with me out of there. But Dawn said, ‘Don’t be such a stick in the mud, it’ll be fun’. “While Dawn disappeared into a bush with her guy, I fought mine off, with as much boring conversation as I could come up with, until Dawn emerged. It seemed it was my turn to be dragged off. Determined not to show fear, I feigned every off-putting condition in the book – disease, food poisoning, madness, fits, period pains, being gay – all in the space of five minutes. I pleaded with Dawn to get me out of this. She said, “Go on, it’s fun”. But the atmosphere changed when my man pulled a knife on me. Dawn went white, made her excuses and left.” Toyah then went on to tell readers: “Knowing that fear would do nothing but work against me, I decided I had to follow the process until I had the right moment of escape. So upping the bravado, I changed tack and pulled the man into the park’s gents’ toilets. He was drunk. That was my strength and my opportunity. Putting his blade down to unzip his trousers he pushed me to the floor and lay on top of me. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads