Joe Wicks: who are presenter’s parents and brothers, what happened in childhood, when is BBC documentary on?

New BBC documentary Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood sees the fitness coach discuss how his mum and dad’s mental health issues affected him as a child.

The 36-year-old fitness coach and media personality was awarded an MBE in 2020 for his services to fitness and charity.

After helping children and adults keep fit during the pandemic, Wicks is now turning his attention to mental health.

Wicks grew up in a household where mental health and addiction issues were common, and will revisit his childhood in a new BBC One documentary.

Who is Joe Wicks?

Joe Wicks, also known as The Body Coach, is a fitness coach who specialises in High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts.

He grew an online following through his fitness social media accounts and in 2015 published a cookbook - Lean in 15 - which sold more than 900,000 copies - he has since published several more cookbooks.

Wicks became a household name during the first UK lockdown thanks to his PE with Joe workout sessions.

His YouTube fitness channel, The Body Coach TV, where he regularly posts workout videos, has 2.8 million subscribers.

In 2020, Wicks completed a 24-hour workout challenge for Children in Need, raising over £2 million for the charity.

Wicks married glamour model Rosie Jones in 2019 and the couple have a son and a daughter together.

Who are Joe Wicks’ parents and brothers?

The hour-long documentary special will see Wicks open up about his own experiences growing up with parents who had mental health conditions.

He grew up on a council estate in south-west London with his parents, Raquela Mosquera and Gary Wicks, and two brothers, Nikki and George. His parents split up when he was 16.

Nikki is also into fitness and is the CEO of Joe’s company, The Body Coach. George is a tree surgeon currently living in Thaiand.

His mother, had several mental health conditions including OCD, eating disorders and anxiety, and his father, battled heroin addiction and depression.

What happens in Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood

During the documentary, Wicks tries to understand how his parents’ mental health affected him as a child, and what can be done to offer better support to families in similar circumstances today.

Wicks visits Our Time, which is the only UK charity dedicated to supporting children of parents with mental illness.

He also has a series of honest conversations with his mum, dad and brother, discussing how his home life affected him.

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux is executive producer of the project, and joined Wicks for a workout ahead of the documentary airing, during which he interviewed the fitness star.

What happened during Joe Wicks’ Louis Theroux interview?

The pair completed a HIIT workout during the interview, and Theroux explained that he had completed all of Wicks’ workouts during lockdown.

Wicks said that filming the documentary left him feeling emotionally drained because of the conversations he was having and the childhood trauma which he revisited.

He added that he originally began the documentary intending to shine a light on the mental health services available to other people but found that it became a personal journey for himself as he revisited his past.

As they spoke about the documentary they got their heart rate up as they completed burpees, push-ups, sprinting on the spot, and Spider-Man lunges, among other gruelling exercises.

When is Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood on TV?

The documentary will air on BBC One on 16 May at 9pm and be available to watch on BBC iPlayer shortly after it is first broadcast.

Wicks’ interview with Louis Theroux is available to watch on the BBC’s YouTube channel. The video is called Louis Theroux works out with Joe Wicks.