Joe: How parents’ struggles drove me
Body Coach makes film with Louis Theroux about troubled childhood
JOE Wicks will talk about his troubled childhood growing up with parents who struggled with mental health and addiction in a documentary made by Louis Theroux.
Lockdown fitness hero Joe, 33, will tell how his mum suffered from acute OCD while his father battled heroin addiction.
He will speak to family and friends who knew him at a young age about his difficult family life and show how it made him turn to exercise.
Body Coach Joe wed model Rosie Jones in 2019 and they have a daughter, Indie, and a son, Marley.
Explaining why he decided to make the BBC film, Joe Wicks: Mental Health, My Family and Me, Joe said: “I’ve spent a lot of time helping people improve their physical health, but as a child that grew up in a home with parents who struggled with their mental health, I know that this is just as important, especially given what’s happened over the last year.
“I want to use my own experience to connect and help families today who are in similar situations to the one I was in.”
Documentary maker Louis, 51, said the film was a “dream project” for him. He and his three sons, aged four to 14, relied on Joe’s online workouts to get them through the first lockdown.
Louis said: “I’m a true believer in Joe’s mission of improving your mental wellbeing through exercise and it is a complete thrill and privilege to be able
to spread the
word further in this documentary, while showing a side of the nation’s favourite PE teacher they have never seen before.”
An estimated 3.7 million children in England live in a home where an adult has a mental health issue, and in the film Joe will meet children and families struggling in situations similar to his own.
He last year admitted “hating” roofer dad Gary for getting high and behaving erratically in their Surrey home.
He also confessed to feeling guilty for those feelings, explaining: “I didn’t hate my dad, I just hated what the drugs were doing to him, doing to my family.
“When I was a teenager, I found it
difficult. I was angry. I don’t remember seeing drug use around me but the aftereffects, seeing my dad stoned or high.”
He has also told how his mum Raquela’s obsession with cleaning meant from the age of four he and older brother Nikki had to vacuum their rooms twice a day.
Despite everything, Joe is close to his parents and dwells on the positives in his childhood, saying: “I always had love.
“The antidote to addiction is connection and love, that’s what I’ve learned.”
Joe Wicks: Mental Health, My Family and Me will be screened later this year.