Fans have called Joe Wicks an "inspiration" and a "national treasure" following his emotional TV documentary about how his parent's mental health battles shaped his childhood.
The TV fitness guru broke down in tears as he sat down with his former-addict father to discuss how his drug habit influenced their relationship with his son. During emotional scenes in Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood, which aired on Monday, May 16, Joe recalls a time when his father would lie to him and say he was "going round the shop to get some milk" when in reality, he was taking heroin.
Social media was flooded with messages from fans praising Joe for the documentary, with one saying she was "blown away by what an amazing human he is" and others praising his bravery in tackling such a difficult subject. You can get more TV news and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Read more: Joe Wicks reveals childhood pain as parents struggled with heroin and OCD addiction
Others called Joe a "national treasure" and said they were "in awe" of him, while fans also said the programme would go a long way towards normalising conversation around mental health and family.
The hour-long documentary explores Joe's relationship with his father and his mother, who had her own mental health battles with OCD. Joe, who earlier on Monday appeared on This Morning to discuss the film, talks to his father about his addiction. He says: "I've got memories of the disappointment of relapse. Suddenly you're clean and stable and then it reverts back to the old days and it was really hard."
Joe, who achieved fame with his home fitness videos during lockdown, describes his challenging childhood and the impact that it had on him. His father, Gary, remembers: "I can only imagine how difficult it was for you. The constant lying and no awareness of what was going on."
Joe responds, before breaking down: "It was like your code word for, 'I'm going to go and score some gear'. You might as well have said because I knew that when you said you were going to get some milk, you never came back with milk." Gary, meanwhile, describes how, at the time, he only thought that he was suffering. He repents and realises now how "deluded and selfish" he was during that time.
Elsewhere in the film, Joe sits down with his mother to discuss her OCD. "When you list it off, it makes me think what I must have gone through emotionally," he told her, adding: "We weren't allowed to talk about [your OCD]". Joe recalls times when his mother would ask him to clean his room, "twice a day" and he never understood why.
His mother tells him how she spent six months in rehab for her OCD, to which Joe said that the revelation "blew his mind". He tells her that he doesn't recall her ever going to rehab. "There's stuff that went on that I choose not to remember," he told his mother.
Watch Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood on BBC iPlayer
