JOE WICKS

The age of 16 was a challenging time because that was when I really understood my dad’s addiction

[Gary Wicks was a heroin user]. I understood that relapse is a constant disappointment and I felt like I was just being let down by him, so I was quite angry and resentful. I didn’t want to be around him. He’d be clean for a year then relapse, so then he’d be gone again in rehab, and it just got harder and harder. I had a girlfriend at the time as well, and trying to explain to her why he wasn’t around was difficult. I was still a happy kid on the surface. I loved being in school, I loved sport and fitness. But I was very disruptive and distracted in every other lesson, especially the ones that required a focus I didn’t have. That led to me being ‘the naughty kid’. But