Joe Wicks: 'I realised my childhood wasn't normal'

Over the first four months of the Covid pandemic in 2020, Joe Wicks became a national hero as he livestreamed PE lessons every morning to hundreds of thousands of Brits.

Known for his upbeat manner and infectious energy, fitness expert Joe, also known as The Body Coach, provided an injection of positivity into the first lockdown. In a new documentary, though, he shows a more vulnerable side as he opens up about his childhood with a heroin-addicted father, and mother with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

"I never had this plan to do a documentary, but I realised my story could really help and inspire people suffering," says Joe of his new programme Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood.

Initially, he says, he wanted to explore the link between exercise and mental health, as keeping fit has always been his chosen way of staying mentally healthy, but during the process of making the programme, he realised the topic was more personal to him than he thought.

On a call from LA, where Joe, 36, is holidaying with his wife Rosie, 31 - who is pregnant with the couple's third baby - daughter Indie, three, and son Marley, two, he sounds his usual upbeat self, even when talking about the more traumatic experiences from his childhood.

"I don't think there was a specific moment that I suddenly understood my dad's addiction and my mum's OCD, because when you're in it as a kid it's your reality," Joe says. "I'd walk into the house and not know what I was going to walk into."

His mum Raquela's OCD manifested in a need to repeatedly clean the house every day, and she was also battling an eating disorder. His dad Gary was in and out of rehab.

"As I got older, I realised it wasn't normal. We were arguing all the time, and I'd think, 'why isn't my dad here? Why can't he be a stable guy in my life":[]}