Joe Wicks: ‘We had a chaotic childhood — Dad was a heroin addict'

Times

27-06-2025

I'm one of three boys. Mum met my dad and had Nikki at 17, me 18 months later, then my brother George ten years after that. We grew up in Epsom, Surrey, in a chaotic home. Both my parents suffered with poor mental health: Dad was a heroin addict and Mum had eating disorders and OCD. It was quite unstable.
Nikki and I are both emotional but we have different personalities — I'm quite reactive and impulsive, while Nikki is calmer, more considered. He's very sensitive and really caring. If anything happens in my life he's my first port of call aside from my wife, Rosie.
When we were teenagers we argued a lot. There were times I'd irritate him or grass him up for coming home late. But when Nikki was 18 he spent the summer working in the States, supervising students at Camp America. I really missed him. When he came back our arguing and annoying each other had dissipated. We realised we were brothers and we needed each other. From that point we had a strong bond.
Saying that, we did have a huge row in 2009. It was on a cycling trip from Madrid to Barcelona, over a lilo I'd got for Nikki to sleep on. It wasn't a punching fight but I was on top and we were just screaming. He went off to ring Mum; I was ringing her too. It was a pivotal moment because we got all that childish aggression out. I've never raised my voice or been angry like that since. We might have a little row on the phone if I feel like my ideas get shot down, but we don't hold grudges.
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My first connection with fitness and dealing with stress was when I was about nine. Rather than get angry and bottle things up, I thought I'd run around instead, do a karate club, anything. It was an instant shift. It calmed me down and gave me something to focus on.
In 2012 I did a personal training course. I borrowed £2,000 off my mum, then my dad lent me £1,500 to get my equipment. I did my first fitness boot camp in Richmond — it was friends, family and one other person who didn't come back. I had a bike and trailer and would cycle there, five miles from home. I thought, 'If I can have boot camps in Surbiton, Cobham and Clapham and a few trainers working for me, that would be wonderful.' That was as far as my vision went.
It was weeks before it got any traction. I remember sitting on the carpet one day and I burst into tears. I said, 'Dad, no one came — I'm never going to pay that money back.' Nikki could see I was deflated. It would be seven in the morning, pissing with rain, I'd just walked in the house and he would be, like, 'Did anyone turn up today?' He could see how hard it was for me.
Nikki was working on a magazine in Singapore in 2014 when I started to take off on social media. I asked if he'd come back and help me. He had reservations about mixing business and family, but he came home and became my social media manager. Now he's my manager, agent and CEO. He's an amazing leader. I trust him with my life and he has given me the freedom to do what I love and be with Rosie and our children, Indie, six, Marley, five, Leni, two, and Dusty, one.
We're really proud we're self-funded — and we've got to this point because we've worked hard. In the year after the first lockdown began in March 2020, my YouTube channel PE with Joe got 100 million views globally. We still get two million views a month.
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I had no idea I was going to build this big brand, but we've done it together as brothers. Nikki asks me the questions no one else is asking. Hand on heart, half the success you see is me, half is Nikki.
Joe and I have such different memories of childhood. It's almost like two different lives. Joe was wild and fearless, while I was anxious and scared of everything. I used to think the police were going to come and take us away. I was very aware of what was going on with our parents but I don't think Joe was. When he did the BBC documentary Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood, that was the first time he'd spent proper time thinking back. But I understood when I was young that my dad had problems with addiction. I'd know instantly if he'd used and would try not to let Mum find out. I'm 41 now and realise I took on the role of protecting everyone.
As kids Joe and I were inseparable. We were both naughty and we had no boundaries. We'd play 'knock down ginger', go out at eight o'clock in the morning and come back at eight o'clock at night. We had the same friends and all the same things, but in different colours — we were obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. And we fought constantly. I've got two boys and I've realised being together and fighting is weirdly a sign of closeness. At Camp America I really missed Joe. When I came back it was like a switch had been flipped.
We lived with Dad in his flat for a while. I was working as a journalist on the London Olympics and Joe was doing his boot camps, and he would come home at 7am as I was getting up. I remember feeling sad for him when he said no one came. We were on a bike ride one evening when he said he'd thought of a name for his business: the Body Coach. I said, 'I love it.'
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When he asked me to come and help him, the question in my head was: if I don't, will he end up with someone who takes advantage? I told him I'd do the thing I'm good at, which is content — we'd set up a blog and a YouTube channel. My plan was to have my own content agency; but I never had time for any other clients. I say I'm an accidental CEO. We were building a tech team for the app and someone asked who they should report to. I told Joe, I think I need to be the CEO as people want to know who's running the company.
We're both bad at acknowledging the impact of things we've done. When we did the HIIT workout world record in Hyde Park in 2017, almost 4,000 people came. I cried; his boot camps with no one there felt so recent.
People would tell Mum, 'Your kids are going to end up in all sorts of trouble.' Even now it's a shock that Joe and I have been successful together. We've built this whole thing on our instincts. I was in his ear during PE with Joe, doing shout-outs and making sure the camera didn't cut out. He says his MBE is half mine, but I don't feel that.
Joe never wanted to be famous. I think being a dad has changed him more. It's 13 years since he started and he is still talking about the same things he'd have said at his first boot camps.The Joe Wicks Festival at Kew is on July 6; kew.org. For more information, visit thebodycoach.com
Joe on NikkiNikki is unnaturally grumpy in the morning. I've learnt not to speak to him or make eye contact until he has downed his coffee
Nikki on JoeJoe is annoyingly energised in the mornings. When we travel together he tries to get me up at 6am for a workout