Joe Wicks breaks down in tears over his troubled childhood in new documentary – and fans are all saying the same thing
JOE Wicks tonight had viewers in tears as he broke down over his troubled childhood in a new deeply personal BBC documentary.
The 36-year-old Body Coach was overcome with emotion as he discussed not being read a bedtime story as a kid, due to his father’s drug addiction.
Speaking to his pal Brendan in the pub, Joe was discussing the affect his dad Gary’s heroin battle took on him as a child.
In one moving scene, he opened up about how he loves tucking his own kids into bed, and telling them a story to help them sleep – something that he didn’t have a child.
He said: “It was all good when he was clean, and stable and we would be cruising along, and then he relapses.
“At the time I didn’t understand addiction, I just saw these drugs taking my dad away.
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“And I couldn’t speak to him, and he couldn’t read me books to get me to sleep at night.”
Joe then started to well up, and with his voice cracking said: “It’s all the things I do with my kids now.
“I do bathtime, I put them to bed, read them books, and get them to sleep.”
Viewers immediately took to Twitter to show their empathy for Joe: “This is heartbreaking! Joe Wicks you are so brave.”
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While another said: “Watching #JoeWicks talking about his childhood and parental mental illness. What a great program to raise awareness of a huge and growing issue. We desperately need more investment into mental well-being and parental support.
This fan tweeted: “My heart goes out to Joe, He is a true inspiration.”
Also on the doc, Joe revealed how his dad used to hide his addiction from him and his siblings when they were younger by saying he was nipping to the shops.
Speaking to Gary – who is now clean -, Joe said: “You may as well have just said, ‘I’m just going to go and score some gear’.
“You never came back with milk, but it was like I knew that that’s what it meant.
“I almost just didn’t want to let you go. I always used to think, ‘why can’t you be clean, ain’t we enough at home?’”
Joe admits he blanked out swathes of his upbringing with two mentally ill parents on an Epsom council estate, but brought a lot of it up tonight’s BBC One documentary Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood.
As well as talking to his dad about his addiction in the film – produced by Louis Theroux – Joe spoke to his mum Raquela Mosquera about her OCD and eating disorder.
Raquela went to rehab for five months to get better when Joe was 12 and his younger brother George was just one.
Roofer Gary struggled with his smack addiction after he first tried sniffing glue and booze aged 13.
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