Joe Wicks teams up with Louis Theroux for mental health documentary exploring ‘poignant personal story’ of his parents

Joe is teaming up with Louis for the documentary (Picture: PA/BBC)

The nation’s favourite fitness guru Joe Wicks has teamed up with documentary don Louis Theroux for a personal mental health programme, commissioned by the BBC, which Louis has labelled a ‘dream project’.

Joe Wicks: Mental Health, My Family and Me will see the Body Coach star reflect on the ‘poignant personal story’ of his mother and father, with documentary maker Louis Theroux on board as the executive producer.

Joe explained: ‘I’ve spent a lot of time helping people improve their physical health but as a child that grew up in a home with parents that struggled with their mental health, I know that this is just as important, especially given what’s happened over the last year.

‘I’m passionate about exploring it and I want to use my own experience to connect and help families today who are in similar situations to the one I was in.

‘I also want to share the message that exercise can be a really powerful tool in helping to boost our mental health.’

Joe was brought up by parents who struggled with their mental health, with his mother suffering from acute OCD and his father battling heroin addiction, both of which he first discussed in detail on his BBC R4 Desert Island Discs appearance in June 2020.

Joe will reflect on his own personal history in the documentary (Picture: Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/Rex)

In the documentary the PE With Joe coach will also explore how children are affected by their parents’ mental health struggles, as well as how they can be supported.

‘I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who flocked to Joe’s online workouts on that first day of PE With Joe back in March 2020,’ Louis shared.

‘I’m a true believer in Joe’s mission of improving your mental wellbeing through exercise and it is a complete thrill and privilege to be able to spread the word further in this documentary, while also showing a side of the nation’s favourite PE teacher they have never seen before’.

The pair previously teamed up when Joe interviewed Louis on his podcast and the TV star said he had done Joe’s workouts ‘religiously’, adopting the regular workouts as ‘a safety blanket’ during the difficulties of 2020.

Joe reached more than 100 million people worldwide with his workouts (Picture: Instagram/@thebodycoach)

Joe was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last year after hosting online PE classes for children throughout lockdown.

A statement from the BBC said: ‘In this intimate and emotionally powerful film Joe will revisit his childhood and have frank discussions with his family and friends, revealing how his experiences motivated him to keep healthy.’

The star was seen rubbing shoulders with royalty last week at Wimbledon as he sat behind the Duchess of Cambridge at the tennis event, and she engaged him in a quick chat.

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He’s previously spoken to Metro.co.uk, explaining it’s not his ‘mission in life’ to receive a knighthood but perhaps the upgrade isn’t that far away?

‘I just think if you keep doing good things for the world and I continue to help people and do the right things, then great things happen,’ he said.

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