Joe Wicks has become a national treasure since keeping the nation fit in lockdown – and now he’s joining Dragons’ Den. Joe, 39, started his Body Coach fitness movement in 2014 by posting HIIT videos to YouTube and has gone on to build a health and fitness empire worth a reported £55million.
The fitness guru owns a luxury mansion in Surrey and a second sprawling home in Santa Monica in California where he, wife Rosie and their four children split their time. Tonight (Thursday, January 9), he joins Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Steven Bartlett and Touker Suleyman on Dragons’ Den to give his advice to hopeful entrepreneurs.
But what do we know about the fitness guru away from his career? Below we look at his relationship with his wife Rosie, who used to be a Page 3 star, and his troubled upbringing.
Read more Dragons’ Den rich list – who has the highest net worth?
Joe Wicks’s relationship with glamour model wife
Joe Wicks married wife Rosie, a former glamour model and Page 3 star, in a in fairytale woodland ceremony in June 2019, seven months after confirming their engagement. They had met at the music festival Coachella – and Joe revealed he had orchestrated their first meeting.
He told The Sun previously: “Obviously, I bought newspapers and used to work on a building site. So I’d observed her for seven or eight years in The Sun, Nuts and Zoo. I always thought she was so hot. Literally my dream girl. So, when my friend was DJing at this rave and I knew she was going to be there, I really wanted to meet her… I was just hoping she was a nice person as well.”
He has previously spoken about the relationship moving ‘crazy fast’, saying: “We became boyfriend and girlfriend, and from there, we just went crazy fast. I was madly in love and couldn’t be apart from her. I was 30, she wanted someone who was committed and I knew early on that I wanted to spend my life with her.”
The couple now have four children – daughters Indie, six, and Leni, three, and sons Marley, five, and six-month-old Dusty.
Joe Wicks’s troubled childhood
Joe Wicks revealed he had not had a “normal” upbringing in BBC documentary Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood. It detailed the challenges he faced growing up with his mum and dad who had both suffered mental health issues.
His mum, Raquela Mosquera, battled with severe OCD, depression, bulimia and anxiety, while his dad Gary also battled depression and was a heroin addict. In the documentary, Joe found out his mum had left him and his brothers when she underwent therapy for five months when he was 12.
Joe previously wrote in the Big Issue: “The age of 16 was a challenging time because that was when I really understood my dad’s addiction. 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.”
He said he had become disruptive in school and was labelled ‘the naughty kid’. Joe added: “My relationship with my mum was so tense. We argued and fought all the time, shouting and slamming doors and punching walls.
“I didn’t want to talk to my friends about what was going on at home. I didn’t want them to think I came from a really bad family.”
Despite the traumatic times, Joe now has a positive relationship with both of his parents, who are no longer together. Gary is free from heroin, and he and Joe have bonded over a shared interest in motorbikes.