Suzie Fletcher from The Repair Shop has opened up about the emotional torment she endured at the hands of her late husband, who once told her a 'cruel lie' that her beloved brother Steve was dying.

The skilled leatherworker and TV personality recounted the harrowing experience on the What I Wish I'd Known podcast, revealing how her abusive spouse attempted to isolate her from her family with manipulative tactics.

During their marriage, which lasted 15 years, Suzie's husband, whom she refers to as Rob in her book, falsely claimed that her sibling was 'seriously ill, probably terminally' after a trip back from the UK to the US, where they lived.

Suzie said: "He tried (to turn me against my family). He did try and that was not going to happen. He also was very cruel. On one visit we came back to the UK and I'm incredibly close to my brother Steve," reports .

"And he and Steve were spending a lot of time together. We'd got back to the US and he said: 'I'm going to tell you now, your brother is seriously ill, probably terminal. He's told me this in confidence so you can't tell anybody.

"So that's my brother, who is terminally ill. It wasn't (true). He was frightening me, he was testing me, so for a long time, every time I talked to Steve I'd say: 'Alright. How's your health?'

"I do remember saying to him: 'Well Steve's fine.' And he'd say: 'Well that's good. What a relief.' So you begin to lose your remind sadly and it gets reflected back on you."

Suzie previously opened up about the devastating loss of her husband, James, to pancreatic cancer in 2013, a tragedy that struck the family unexpectedly as his illness was unknown to them.

In an evocative account on a podcast, Suzie recollected the time following his passing when she joined The Repair Shop's second series in 2018.

Reflecting on her marriage and considering the signs of abuse, she acknowledges they're more apparent now.

She revealed: "He had made me very dependent on him. It's one of those things I do question, whether it was intentional or just the way he operated."

Discussing the enlightenment she's gained over the years, Suzie admitted: "We know so much more about gaslighting and these terms of grooming, and codependency, and coercive behaviour. These are terms I now know. I didn't know then."

Now with a greater understanding, she expressed that previously there was a struggle to justify his actions: "I couldn't rationalise this behaviour before. This is a man who loved me so I must have deserved that. Obviously I didn't deserve that, no way."

Fans can catch the latest episode of The Repair Shop tonight (Wednesday, January 15) at 8pm on One.