Heartbreaking moment Ronnie O’Sullivan breaks down in tears as he recalls his dad’s jail sentencing
RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has opened up about the impact of his father going to jail.
The snooker legend’s father, Ronnie Snr, was sent to prison in 1992 after stabbing father-of-two Bruce Bryan, who was the driver of notorious gangster of Charlie Kray, to death in a Chelsea nightclub.
He spent 18 years behind bars before his release in 2010.
The arrest came in the same year that the Rocket became a snooker professional.
But in his Amazon Prime documentary, Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, the 48-year-old recalled the emotional impact it had on his life.
The seven-time world champion said: “I just couldn’t make sense of it and couldn’t believe it.
“We got the verdict through and then obviously everyone’s frantic on the phone and speaking to the solicitor [saying], ‘What can we do now? What’s the next steps?’
“And then she just said, you know as you was walking down, my dad was being carted off, he’d been sentenced, he just looked up to the woman and… (gets emotional and wipes away tears).
“You get a bit emotional sometimes don’t you. It’s really emotional.”
After regaining his composure, he added: “He just said, ‘Tell my boy to win’.
“Typical. ‘Just tell my boy to win’. That was it. F***ing 30 years ago.
“Part of me was thinking, ‘F*** you and f*** this, just f*** everybody.’
“The healthiest thing for me to do was probably to stop playing snooker. But I didn’t, I just felt compelled to stick with it.”
O’Sullivan had to bring up his eight-year-old sister Danielle when his mother was also imprisoned in 1996 for tax evasion.
And the Essex potter has spoken openly and candidly about his struggles with mental health and addiction over the years.
He continued: “I didn’t want to blame everything on that situation with my dad, but I was thinking, ‘l’d rather not have the snooker’, just a normal family, forget the snooker, whatever normal life is.
“Because… it was a dream, but looking back, it was a nightmare. I wasn’t good at having all this stuff locked inside me.
“People could see that I was imploding. If I had really let it all out they’d have locked me up.
“They’d have said he’s a danger to himself. Just self-doubt and self-sabotage and hatred towards myself.”
Inside Ronnie's colourful career
FROM his lightning breaks to blasts at officials, Ronnie O'Sullivan has fired snooker into the spotlight.
The seven-time world champion makes almost as big an impact away from the table as on it.
O’Sullivan has three children – two daughters and a son.
And the Rocket’s on-off relationship with British actress Laila Rouass has also hit the headlines.
He has opened up on battles with his weight and addiction.
While the controversial cueist reckons he wasted NINE YEARS of his career by partying too hard.
Despite being worth £14million, O’Sullivan is renowned for his love of canal boats and snubbing flashy cars.
His rivalry with fellow star Judd Trump has been branded ‘snooker’s greatest feud’.
And Ali Carter had his nose knocked out of joint by the Rocket in their infamous ‘Snotgate’ row.
Check out all our latest Ronnie O’Sullivan articles.