I’m A Celebrity South Africa star Mo Farah left his campmate Scarlett Moffatt in tears as he opened up to his jungle co-stars about being trafficked as a child
Mo Farah opened up to the I’m a Celebrity… South Africa camp about his tough childhood(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Mo Farah opened up to the I’m a Celebrity… South Africa camp about his tough childhood, bringing co-star Scarlett Moffatt to tears.
Asked why he came to the UK, 43-year-old Mo explained how it was not a great beginning for him in the country. He said: “It was quite a long story, but yeah, I was living in Somalia when I was young, and then the Civil War kicked in, and I lost my dad. In the war.
“So when that happened, my mum was just like, it was madness. She couldn’t deal eight of us, eight kids. I had a relative of mine living in Holland at that moment, it was like yeah we’re gonna go see my relative mind. But it wasn’t the case.
“My relative wrote details. So I thought was like, go with the lady, and then on the other side you get to meet your family. No, It was a whole different thing. Basically, I was child trafficked to the UK.”
He added: “This Lady comes in. She’s like, ‘this is your name’.”
When David Haye asked him to clarify he had his name changed, Mo replied: “Yeah, my name’s not Mo it was Hussein. The lady had me to do chores and look after her kids. I was like a maid.”
Scarlet Moffatt could be seen crying as she listened and said “Mo that’s awful”, clearly having not been aware of the story before. “That’s unbelievable. You are amazing.”
Haye added that Mo should get something that is “above a knighthood” for what he has been through and achieved. Mo added that once he was at school they could see what was happening and he spoke to a teacher who helped him get out of the situation.
Mo first revealed the detail about his life to the BBC in 2022, confirming his real name was Hussein Abdi Kahin and he was brought to the UK illegally as a child and forced to work as a domestic servant.
The Olympic star was flown over from the East African country aged nine by a woman he had never met. After arriving in the UK, the woman took him to her flat in Hounslow, west London, and took the piece of paper off him which had his relatives’ contact details on, his only way of contacting them.
“Right in front of me, she ripped it up and put it in the bin. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble,” he told the BBC.
Mo eventually confided in his PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, at Feltham Community College who contacted social services. He was then fostered by another Somali family.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.ok.co.uk ’
