Tom Daley was bullied so horrifically he received threats of broken legs and was given classroom key to escape
TOM DALEY once ruled the world of diving after becoming an Olympic champion.
But in a candid interview and documentary, Daley has opened up on his personal struggles to get to that point, including bullying, eating disorders and the loss of his father.
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The now-retired Daley, 31, won five medals for Team GB across five Olympic Games, including gold for the 10-metre synchro in 2021.
His long list of accolades also included being named world champion twice, but perhaps his greatest prize now is his loving family with husband, Dustin Lance Black, and two boys, Robbie and Phoenix.
In the new documentary, " 1.6 seconds", Daley has opened up the career struggles that have shaped him into the person he is today.
And also speaking to People, the Brit has reflected on both the good and bad parts of his life.
Speaking in the documentary, Daley says: "My whole life has been about diving. My whole life has been about perfecting those 1.6 seconds.
"I spend four years training for something that goes by in less than 10 seconds in total. And I wouldn't change a thing. It's been the best 23 years that I can imagine."
At the age of just 14, Daley became the second-youngest British male Olympian when he made his debut at the Beijing Olympics, but had started diving aged seven.
And despite having the support of a whole nation, back at school, Daley had begun to feel unsafe due to bullying.
The horrific bullying saw Daley called names and even saw kids threaten to break his legs, with the situation getting so bad that he and his friends were given a key to allow them to lock themselves in a classroom to escape other students at lunchtime.
In the documentary, he recalls: "I don't think people realise how much it impacted me because I didn't really talk about it.
Tom Daley breaks down in tears as he retires live on BBC after returning home from Paris 2024 Olympics
"I was almost embarrassed about the fact that people were mean to me at school. I feel so sorry for that kid that had to explain what was going on."
Daley publicly spoke about his bullying at the age of 13, but now believes he should have been "more conservative" with what he shared due to it making the situation even more overwhelming and painful.
In 2011, Daley had to fight his way through an eating disorder after being told to lose weight by the performance director at British Diving, which was all he could think about going into London 2012.
Daley said: "It was the first time where I felt that I was being looked at and judged not for how I did in the diving pool but for how I looked.
"I took some quite drastic measures to make sure that the food did not stay in my stomach...
"Every time I made a decision about what I was going to eat, if I was going to eat it and then get myself so hungry that I would end up eating so much and binging to the point where I was then so guilty — that I then had to do something about that."
Daley admits his struggles were not helped by his internal beliefs about masculinity where guys, "didn't have eating disorders, didn't have any problems with their mental health," and "were meant to be these macho things that get on with anything and you just keep going".
As a result, Daley felt isolated, a problem which was only deepened with the tragic loss of his father, Robert, from brain cancer just days after he turned 17.
On his grief, Daley says: "I think there was something about when he was gone that I think in turn, probably did have something to do with all that I've faced.
"The feeling like I had to face it alone because I didn't want to upset anyone else or bother anyone else because they were already going through enough."
His father had kept the seriousness of his illness hidden from his children for as long as he could, as he was determined not to let it overshadow his son's growing success.
In the documentary, Daley reflects: "He didn't care how well I did. He didn't care if I came last. He didn't care if I bombed out. Like there was no concern about the outcome.
"He just wanted to be there.… He just loved seeing me dive. He was the one person that I could go to to speak about anything and everything and feel like I had someone on my side.
"I didn't just lose my dad, because he was much more than that.
'He was my biggest cheerleader, my best friend, mentor. I mean, our whole life came to a standstill."
However, Daley says he understands his father's decision to keep it close to heart, saying to People: "Now that I think about it as a parent, it would be like trying to explain that to my oldest son.
"And, you know, if one of the kids knew, then they were all going to know. As a parent, you want to protect your kids from anything that's going into that."
He added: "So I just think… that's part of the reason for the documentary and like how grateful I am to have all of that archival footage.
"All of those moments… forever immortalised by being able to actually have copies of that digitised."
Daley's world of isolation came crashing down when he met his husband and eventually started a family.
In 1.6 seconds, he explains: "I finally found perspective, and I didn't put all of my self-worth and self-esteem based on how well I did in diving.
"I started to realise that I was more than just a diver. [I am] a husband, a father, a friend, a son."
Despite the struggles he has been through, the Olympic legend, father and husband says: "You know, there's much of my life formed and shaped because of the experiences I went through — the good and the bad.
"Those things formed me and created the person I am today."
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