Olympic boxing star Nicola reveals devastating family rift and says: I feel like I’ve lost my mum
AS THE first female Olympic boxing champion, Nicola Adams always had her mother fighting her corner.
But now the 38-year-old has revealed that she and mum Dee – a single mother who worked two jobs to help her daughter achieve her dreams – are experiencing a devastating rift.
The disclosure appears in an Amazon documentary about Nicola’s life called Lioness – her nickname in the ring.
The sports star speaks candidly about the violence the pair faced in their Leeds family home, calling it more dangerous than the boxing ring. However, she also accused her mother of sending insulting texts, adding: ‘Me and my mum both suffered at the hands of my dad but my mum is just perpetuating it and she can’t find a way out of it.
‘And it’s just ruined our relationship. I feel like I’ve lost my mum now. It makes me feel like I’m on my own.’
Now retired from the sport, Nicola, who won gold in London 2012, the first time women were allowed to compete in boxing in the games, and then Rio four years later, has taken acting classes. Last year, she became part of the first same-sex pairing on Strictly Come Dancing with dancer Katya Jones.
She tells the MoS’s You magazine today: ‘As a boxer, you’re taught to be very poker-faced and not to show pain or emotion to your opponent. Now I’m acting out the pains… and opening up.
‘It’s awesome.’