Bradley Wiggins’ kids grew up in shadow of fame & got bullied out of school… but have bravely backed dad in year of hell

OLYMPIC cycling legend Sir Bradley Wiggins stood proudly with his children in tow at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards.

In a rare public appearance, Isabella and Ben Wiggins flanked their famous dad on the red carpet last night after one of the worst years of his life.

It was a strong show of support for the 44-year-old from his grown-up children, having recently opened up on his horror battles with homelessness and bankruptcy.

The family’s lives have been upended this year, with ex-wife Cath being forced to sell the family home where she still lives with their son and daughter.

But despite the turmoil, Cath and the kids have been there to support Sir Wiggo through his toughest times. 

Bradley’s ex has let him sleep on her sofa when he had nowhere else to go and the sportsman himself credits professional cyclist son Ben for saving him when he was in a very dark place last year.

With his signature mod haircut and irreverent style, Bradley became the most famous cyclist on the planet when he became the first Brit winner of the Tour de France and won Olympic gold a week apart in 2012.

He was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year the same year and knighted in the 2013 New Year’s Honours list.

All of this helped him to amass a multi-million-pound fortune. But behind his success lay a tortured soul that only those closest to him really knew.

It was only in 2022 that he began opening up about devastating childhood experiences that have tormented him all his life, turning him to drink.

His professional cyclist father Gary, an alcoholic and drug abuser, left the family when Bradley was 18 months old, before stepping back into his life when he was 19 after his early success with cycling. 

But even after their reconciliation his father cruelly told him: “You’ll never be as good as your old man”. 

Between the ages of 13 and 16, Bradley was sexually abused by his coach Stan Knight, who died in 2003.

And behind closed doors it was wife Cath and their children who had to watch his painful self-destruction as he struggled with success and imposter syndrome.

Bradley once even smashed his awards up in front of children Ben, now 19, and 18-year-old Isabella, in a bid to prove that trophies don’t matter – it is the work to get there that is important.

He revealed: “I smashed my Sports Personality trophy, I smashed my knighthood in front of my kids and chucked them in the flower bed to make a point to them. 

“I wanted to show them that it’s not the material items that we now polish on the mantelpiece for the rest of our lives to elevate dad in our household as something special.”

Family strife

Bradley’s overnight elevation to sporting legend in 2012 had already had a devastating impact on the kids, who were forced to move schools.

When he won the 2012 Tour de France, it led to Isabella and Ben being bullied at school by kids who suggested he had taken performance-enhancing drugs like disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.

“That Tour win changed everything,” said Wiggins. “I left home pretty much unknown and came home the most famous man in the country for that week.

“It was hard for me and the family. It affected them as well. My son getting bullied at school. I had to move my kids from that school and move them to another school.”

‘Manic episode’

But there was going to more trauma and upheaval for the Wiggins children to face. 

In 2015, after years of ups and downs with her mental health, mum Cath was hospitalised for a week after having what she calls a ‘manic episode’ triggered by confronting issues from her childhood.

“It was a very dark time,’ she told the Daily Mail. “It’s ­hideous – for the sufferer and for the family. Unless you’ve lived it, you don’t understand it.”

She was subsequently formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and given medication which slowly brought her back to normal. 

In 2016, Cath was still in recovery when it emerged that Bradley was the subject of an anti-doping investigation over the contents of a Jiffy bag delivered to him in France in 2011.

He vehemently denied the ­allegations and, in November 2017, the investigation found ­insufficient evidence it contained a banned substance, but the cloud of the allegation remained.

But Cath and the kids backed Bradley 100 per cent.

“I’ve no doubt whatsoever in his integrity as an athlete, none whatsoever,” she said. Nor did the children. They never once doubted their dad.”

Homlessness & bankruptcy

As Cath and Bradley both struggled mentally, another crisis was to come.

Poor financial decisions, legal fees to help clear his name, and sponsors pulling out meant the fortune Bradley had amassed started to dwindle.

The pressure led to the couple splitting in 2020 – with Bradley taking to social media to announce the separation without consulting Cath.

My son actually was the one who kind of intervened and made me realise, recognise the self-destructive mode I was in

Bradley Wiggins

And six months later he was seen with PR executive Laura Hartshorne, with whom he now has a three-year-old daughter Ava, although the couple have now split.

Wiggins was declared bankrupt earlier this year and ended up sofa-surfing.

But it was ex-wife Cath and the children who came to the rescue – putting him up in the family home so he could spend Father’s Day with the kids.

She said: “It’s a desperate situation he’s in, tragic really, that’s why I’ve put him up for a bit.”

And it is clear that she and the teenage children will continue to put a ring of steel around troubled Bradley as he tries to pay off his debts and rebuild his life.

‘Self-destructive mode’

Earlier this year Wiggins opened up about his spiral into depression, his booze battle and how Ben feared he would kill himself in November last year. 

In an emotional interview on The High Performance Podcast, he credited junior cycling champion Ben for saving him, saying: “There were some really extreme moments. Probably the last one was about a year ago without going into too much detail.

“But I was in a very dark place in a very dark room for many days, and it was a hotel, and my son actually was the one who kind of intervened and made me realise, recognise the self-destructive mode I was in.

“There were a lot of reasons for that.”

Now he is opening up about his trauma and the impact on his life, he says he is finally proud.

He said: ”I’m proud of the person I’m becoming. I feel like a good father to my children.”

Although he has previously cited his cycling success as one of the contributors to his difficulties, he now says “it saved his life” and he would not change that.

He said: “It saved my life in many ways. I don’t know where I’d be today. Cycling’s given me everything.

“I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t change any of my journey up to this point, because it’s what we do with the things that happen to us that shape us, that make us the people we are. I think my best years are yet to come.”

And there is no doubt that Ben, who has set his sights on emulating his dad’s cycling success, and Isabella will be by his side as he tries to rebuild his life.