Tara Coleman-Starr, 22, says she may not go to her father Freddie Starr’s funeral
Freddie Starr’s daughter claims her father punched her pregnant mother and walked out before their wedding.
Tara Coleman-Starr, 22, says she may not go to Freddie Starr’s funeral as she is ashamed of having him for a father.
The TV icon’s daughter made a series of claims in an interview with the Mirror, alleging that Freddie had punched her pregnant mother in the stomach and demanded she have an abortion before walking out on her when she was just six months old.
Ms Coleman-Starr also claimed her father later returned, only to call her a spiteful girl who deserved ‘the world’s biggest slap’.
She also alleges that Freddie Starr left her so traumatised she needed therapy from the age of 14, and on one occasion frightened her so much she had lock herself in a bathroom – as he said: ‘You can run but you can’t hide’.
Ms Coleman-Starr, a dog groomer who lives with her mother in Solihul, West Midlands, told the Sunday Mirror: ‘No one wants to believe their dad is an evil, manipulative man. He never gave me a birthday present or Christmas card. He never tried to be a father.
‘I don’t think he’s capable of love. I’m embarrassed to be his daughter.’
It comes after the last known footage of Freddie Starr, looking tired and fragile outside his Spanish apartment before his death, was unveiled by MailOnline.
Taken seven months ago, the 76-year-old is seen speaking slowly, his speech almost slurred because of serious asthma problems.
But despite his obvious ill health, Starr manages to crack a joke about his neighbours Steve and Sue Taylor being ‘cup thieves’.
She claims that after playfully telling him to shut up in a phone call, her father slammed the phone down before calling her back, shouting that had he been with her he would have given her ‘the world’s biggest slap’
The Liverpool-born comic was found dead at his Costa Del Sol apartment on Thursday by his live-in carer and close friend Nelly Georgieva.
He had a heart attack as he sat watching the news.
Freddie Starr had suffered with coronary artery disease and had a quadruple bypass following a heart attack in 2010. He also suffered from asthma.
He was also said to be in thousands of pounds of debt and had received threats from lawyers over unpaid water bills at his Spanish bolthole.
Ms Coleman-Starr admitted her father was an excellent performer, and said she understood why people loved him, but said that was just a ‘persona’ – claiming that away from the stage he had been ‘selfish and violent’.
Freddie Starr had met Tara’s mother Trudy Coleman in 1994 and proposed to her while in the process of divorcing his second wife Sandy – who was mother to three of his children.
Ms Coleman became pregnant in 1998, but Tara says he punched her in the stomach and threatened to leave if she did not have an abortion – claiming Freddie did not ‘want competition’ for her mother’s affection.
December 1993: Trudy Coleman and Freddie Starr at his house in Marbella, Spain
Freddie Starr filmed outside his Costa Del Sol apartment in Spain before his death
Pictured: Freddie Starr’s house in Mijas, near Fuengirola, southern Spain
Freddie Starr would later cheat with shop assistant Donna Smith – who was 27 years younger than him – and quickly became ‘bored’ with Tara, she claims.
Ms Coleman-Starr says her mother and father then separated after Freddie said he wanted nothing to do with her – something she says she blamed herself for, never understanding why he rejected her.
But eight years later, having married and divorced Donna, Freddie reappeared, apologising and saying how much he had missed his daughter, but Ms Coleman-Starr says he was just ‘using’ her to reunite with her mother.
When her mother made it apparent that would not be happening, Ms Coleman-Starr says he became nasty and said her mother had been a bad parent and that if he had been around she would have turned out better – before driving off.
Ms Coleman-Starr says she did not see her father for another six years until, aged 13, she was taken to a Burger King by the comedy icon, who then stayed in the picture for six weeks.
Starr’s failing health since Christmas when he was hospitalised meant that he would usually stay in his apartment and not venture out (pictured: Freddie Starr)
She claims that after playfully telling him to shut up in a phone call, her father slammed the phone down before calling her back, shouting that had he been with her he would have given her ‘the world’s biggest slap’.
Ms Coleman-Starr also recalls having to lock herself in the bathroom when it was just the two of them in the house.
She claimed her father was mad about something, and she was scared because she knew what he was ‘capable’ of – so she hid away before he told her ‘you can run but you can’t hide’ and drove away.
The last time she saw her father was when she was 15, while Freddie was married to Sophie Lea.
Ms Coleman-Starr says she visited Freddie at Sophie Lea’s house and her father was watching the Jeremy Kyle show and would not look at her.
The teenager then got a text message, looked at her phone, and Freddie started berating her for looking at her phone and told her to leave, she says.
Ms Coleman-Starr says she still suffers from the alleged abuse, saying that she felt numb when finding out about her father’s death through a text from a friend.
She still feels pity for her father, but says she now wishes his death will help bring her and her half-siblings together.