Older bullies "thumped" Malcolm Turnbull when he was a little boy sent away to boarding school after his parents split up, the prime minister has revealed.
In an interview with the Australian Women's Weekly, Mr Turnbull opened up about dealing with bullies as a child at school.
"My observation as a man and as a father is that both boys and girls can be very cruel to each other," Mr Turnbull told the Women's Weekly.
"But boys tend to be more physical than girls.
"I was pushed and thumped, and the difference between a boy who is eight and a boy who is 12 is enormous."
Mr Turnbull was sent to boarding school when his mother walked out on his father, who travelled a lot for work.
He later won a scholarship to Oxford University and holidayed in Italy with his future wife Lucy, the pair buying a second-hand Fiat they called "Luigi" to drive across the Alps.
Mrs Turnbull told the magazine she was pleased her husband missed out on Liberal party preselection in 1981, because they had time to raise a family before he entered the rough-and-tumble of politics.
"I think I was slightly concerned about him going into politics when our kids were very little, so I was very happy when he decided to leave it," Mrs Turnbull said.
