Dad’s addiction fight made me chase a different life
FITNESS coach Joe Wicks vowed drug addiction would not be his “path” while growing up with a heroin addict father.
The exercise guru – who is guiding Britain through daily PE classes during lockdown and giving revenue generated to the NHS – now has a “great relationship” with his father, Gary, a roofer.
But he admits his dad was absent a lot during his childhood, as he battled addictions.
Joe – known as The Body Coach – channelled his energy into exercise. He said: “I used exercise probably as a way to manage my feelings.”
Joe, 34, and his brother Nicky, 36, avoided drugs while growing up – crediting mum Raquela with teaching the pair “right and wrong” when she raised the pair, while Gary was “in and out of rehab”.
Raquela left home at 15, and was living in a squat in Epsom, Surrey, when Joe was born.
Joe said: “Because of my dad’s addiction – and the damage I saw that cause – me and Nicky steered
BY ASHLEIGH RAINBIRD reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk clear of it. We weren’t smoking weed – we were training, exercising and playing sport. Along the line, I decided that wasn’t going to be destiny – that wasn’t going to be my path.”
Joe broadcasts live workouts from his living room in the London home he shares with model wife Rosie, 29, and their children Indie, 18 months, and three-month-old Marley, to millions every day.
Joe says he is now better able to cope with his dad’s addictions. And he encourages him to exercise, offering advice on how dopamine