SEAL - SEAL: 'MY FATHER USED TO BEAT ME'

Soul star SEAL endured regular beatings from his violent father throughout his childhood - but is grateful to his dad for showing him how not to behave as a parent. The Kiss from a Rose singer - who has two sons and an adopted daughter with his supermodel wife Heidi Klum - has learned to forgive his father for his abusive ways and insists his difficult upbringing has taught him a valuable lesson. He says, "My dad was a troubled soul, but I understand why he was like that. He couldn't break out of a vicious cycle: his father, my grandad, was also a nasty piece of work. And maybe dad hated the fact that I was a newer, younger, version of him. "I still describe my father as a great man, because he gave me the gift of seeing everything I shouldn't do as a father."