Sir Mo Farah wanted to be honest about his past for the sake of his children.
The 39-year-old runner – who has twins Aisha and Amani, 10, and Hussein, seven, as well as 17-year-old Rhianna with wife Tania Nell – revealed for the first time earlier this year that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he was trafficked to the UK to work as a servant at the age of nine and explained that the decision to break his silence was because he “cannot imagine” his children going through the same thing.
He said: “Yeah honestly, it’s been hard. It’s been quite emotional. And look, to ask that question ‘why now’, honestly just looking at my kids, my twin girls are 10, my son is seven, my oldest girl Rhianna, she’s 17, and looking at my girls, and to me, I just couldn’t imagine them going through what I did. And often your kids ask you a lot questions, like ‘Dad, where’s your brother?’, ‘Why is he not here?’, ‘Where’s your mom?’ That story, I’ve always kept that back in my mind. But over the years as you get older, and you see your kids, and you just try and be honest with them, and talk to them and show them what’s normal, what’s not normal, and just being a father. And one of the reasons I really did it is because of my family, I just wanted to tell them, you know, this is the real story. And it was hard for me to actually, as you said, keep out in the back of your mind for so many years to come forward now and to tell your kids and share with them. But if it wasn’t for my kids and seeing them every day, it would have been hard to actually say anything.”
The record-breaking sports star went on to add that that period of time in his early life was “hard” because just a few years earlier his dad had been killed and he eventually lost touch with his family before coming to the UK after mistakenly believing he would be going to live with a relative.
READ: Olympic Champ Mo Farah Admits He Lied About His Background And His Name
