Fitness guru and YouTube saviour of lockdown Joe Wicks appeared on This Morning today to speak about his new documentary Joe Wicks: Facing my Childhood in which the TV star and author looks back at his experience growing up with parents who struggled with OCD and addiction, as well as exploring the impact the experiences have had on his life.
Speaking to presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby about his childhood, Joe said: “There’s stuff locked inside you as a kid that you suppress and you don’t want to confront. I found it really difficult doing this documentary. It was, in my head, going to be about other families, mental health in the UK - ‘how can we improve that?’ but it became a really personal thing.
“All of those experiences I’ve been through have shaped who I am today. It’s given me that drive and empathy to want to help others and even share this story. There’s a reason I’m doing it - I want to help others.”
On being aware that his dad was addicted to heroin, Joe revealed: “I was aware and around it - loads of destruction. Heroin addiction is a really destructive thing. I was just anxious all the time and scared and nervous. I acted up in school. I was disruptive, I was the naughty kid because no one stopped me and said, ‘What’s going on?’”
On his mum’s battle with OCD, Joe said: “She was scrubbing the house three or four times a day, I was hoovering my bedroom twice a day. I had to show her the lines. These things weren’t normal but in my head I was like, ‘All mums do this.’… Every day was an argument.
“I went through a lot, no one talked about it, no one was saying, ‘What’s going on?’ So your mum and dad just didn’t want to talk about these things and that’s what the documentary is about - when can we bring the kids into the conversation?”
Holly asked Joe if he had felt responsible for what was going. He said: “I think as a child, what I’ve learnt from this is when you have that kind of thing going on, my mum and dad, I was trying to care for them and my brother was trying to care for me. You can become really withdrawn or a carer… I look at [my kids] and think, ‘I can’t imagine them having to deal with those emotions.’ It was really difficult, it’s an emotional documentary.”
Joe also explained that although the documentary is emotional, there’s a message of hope: “I have a great relationship with my dad today, we’ve repaired that damaged relationship and the same with my mum.”
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV and ITV Hub. Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood is on BBC1 tonight (May 16) at 9pm.
