Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's Parenting Hell - S6 EP32: George Foreman

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

Joining us this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) is the brilliant former boxer, Olympic gold medalist, two time heavweight champion, minister, entrepreneur, and the face of the lean mean fat grilling machine - George Foreman! The new film 'Big George Foreman' is in UK and US cinemas April 28. Parenting Hell is available exclusively (for free!) only on Spotify every Tuesday and Friday. Please leave a rating and review you filthy street dogs... xx If you want to get in touch with the show here's how: EMAIL: [e-mail] INSTAGRAM: @parentinghell MAILING LIST: parentinghellpodcast.mailchimpsites.com  A 'Keep It Light Media' Production  Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello I'm Rob Beckett and I'm Josh Willicombe. Welcome to Parents in Hell the show in which Josh and I discuss what it's really like to be a parent which I would say can be a little tricky. So to make ourselves and hopefully you feel better about the trials and tribulations of modern day parenting each week we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how they're coping or hopefully how they're not coping and we'll also be hearing from you the listener with your tips advice and of course tales of parenting woe because let's be honest there are plenty of times where none of us know what we're doing hello you're listening to parents in hell with can you say rob beckett. Can you say Josh Widdicombe? Josh Widdicombe.

Good boy. Well done. Well done. There we go. Nice one. Hello and welcome. This is Ezra from Leeds, 22 months, saying Rob and Josh's names after recording. He clapped himself and said, well done.

I started listening last summer when I was digging out the back of the garden so he could fit in a large climbing frame my wife started listening after hearing me laugh out loud we now make sure we save up episodes if we're driving from leeds to kent see my family rob i'm from tonbridge oh tonbridge i like tonbridge is that different to Tonbridge Wells? Right. So bone of contention, Royal Tonbridge Wells and then Tonbridge. So Royal Tonbridge Wells thinks a little bit of itself. Yeah, I bet it does. And it looks down its little snooty nose at Tonbridge. Does it? Don't get me wrong, Royal Tonbridge Wells, it's fine.

Nice place. Tonbridge, Does it? Don't get me wrong. Royal Tonbridge Wells. It's fine. Nice place. Tonbridge, nice place. But Tonbridge, I don't mind being confused with Royal Tonbridge Wells. Royal Tonbridge Wells does not like people saying it's the same place, Josh. It's a 20-minute drive away, and they get very particular about it. They also have one of the hardest gigs in the country. Oh, my God. Royal Tonbridge Wells. That old church. It's such a the country. Oh, my God. Royal Tunbridge Wells.

That old church. It's such a tough gig. Yes, a very tough gig. But, yeah, different places. Different places for different needs. Now, Josh, exciting news. We should tell the listeners this. Yes.

Because we do have listeners. Yeah, well, a certain group of listeners who live in a certain place. Yes. Don't worry, it's a positive message. We're not banning you from listening. We are doing Parents in Hell live in Dubai. It's an international tour now, Josh. We've added

one day abroad. It's an international tour, bloody hell, with like fucking The Rolling Stones or U2. I do enjoy that when you see comedians that put in one Helsinki date and they go, my world tour's starting. It's not a world tour Dublin my world tour begins well Wales is a separate country actually so Cardiff counts yeah um yeah

so we are doing Dubai so you can buy tickets for that somewhere Josh can't you uh social media channels um should I say those words confidently social media channels is that the kind of thing people say these days I'll we'll put a link out what, we'll put a link out on Instagram as well. Yeah. If you just find it. I think, is it Dubai Opera House? I'm not sure. It is, yeah.

If you Google it, you'll find it. It'll be the highest culture they've ever had in that opera house, mate. Here we go. It was built for opera, but this is what you really bloody want. It was the first show after the pandemic in that opera house. And I think that's what they wanted when they did it. But yeah, if you live in Dubai... But you were doing Carmen, weren't you?

Yeah. It's one of our favourites, actually, Carmen. Yeah, so if you want to come and see us in Dubai, if you live in Dubai, you live in Abu Dhabi, travel over. We're doing that in July, aren't we? Yeah. July the 3rd. Yeah.

That's probably it as well, isn't it? That'll probably be the last time we do the show. I think so, yeah. So if you live anywhere and you're like i've got to see this show that's your chance or the other thing is if you're really desperate to see the show and you don't want to go to dubai we're in birmingham tonight yeah see you then right let's get on with our guest i'm very excited about this yeah we have got the biggest name we've ever ever had on the podcast podcast. We have got Olympic gold medalist,

two-time world heavyweight champion boxer, businessman, the man that brought you the George Foreman lean, mean, gritty machine. This man's lived a life, Josh. And I think absolutely nothing to do with us being exhausted from the tour with nothing left in the tank. I think we should just get straight into it. Just get him on. Sometimes you just get him on because people don't want to hear us

blabbering on exactly shut the fuck up lads get on george foreman this is big george foreman hello george hello george hello everybody thanks so much for doing this I'm happy to be with you. This week, we are joined by a megastar. The best, biggest guest we've ever had. It's George Foreman. Big George Foreman, two times heavyweight champion of the world, businessman, now filmmaker. George, thank you so much for doing this. We're really excited and a bit nervous, if we're totally honest.

Well, I'm happy to be with you and talk about the movie and life and children. So how was it doing a movie where watching someone play you must be a really strange experience, right? Is it difficult not to go, that's not, that wasn't how it was. That wasn't how the scene was. No, the actor Chris Davis, he did so well. Sometimes I thought he, when it was over, I believed he was George Foreman. But it was a good story about getting up,

brushing off your pants, spitting in your palms and going another round. Well, George, your life has been, you know, I thought I knew about you from the boxing and stuff like that. But when I was sort of researching you, you've lived about seven lives. So if I've missed anything,

let me know. But Olympic champion, then you went into boxing professionally and become world champion. Then you stopped, run a community youth club center and became a preacher. And then when you needed more money for the youth club, you went back into boxing, became heavyweight champion again.

In your 40s. In your 40s. And then, obviously, the George Foreman lean mean grilling machine took off and became one of the most popular and successful things ever. And I've just found out he did the Masked Singer last year.

When does it stop, George? When does it stop? But it's been such a good journey in my life i've had a lot of disappointment been knocked down a few times but most importantly i'm on faith and i was on my way and and do you find that um with that with your faith that feels like the biggest turning point in your life in a way right when you almost died well you died and then you got faith from that right that's right dead and alive in a split second my whole life changed for 10 years i didn't make a fist i didn't box i walked

away from it trying to figure out what in the world has happened to me and then along the way i started the youth center started helping kids i ran out of money kids will do that to you and i'm happy boxing was there gave me a second chance to keep that youth center going to keep them and then i'm a grandfather as well 10 kids i raised i became better at homework at their homework than they were kids and 15 and 15 grandkids 15 grandkids and so are you doing any of the babysitting them with the grandkids it's a bit difficult for them to choose which one to bring over right well when you have so many grandkids it's been a lovely thing to watch them grow for someone to know you and then they only know me as uh grandpa george but the movie made them find out

different things answer a lot of questions about my life it was good for them and your kids you've got so 10 kids you've got and is it correct that all the boys are called george is that correct yeah five sons george foreman each one amazing i told my wife if i if I forget one of my kids' names, a boy's name, I want to stop boxing. So I took care of that. How does that work day to day when there's six Georges in the room? How are you talking to each other? Well, not only that, there are about two more Georges' grandkids. Oh, wow.

That's not my fault there, though. They did it themselves but you know my wife whatever tone of voice when she said George for some reason we all know who she's talking to how do the kids talk to each other are they got different names are they all George are they like George 2 George 3 yeah they call themselves george one is uh the not as you mentioned numbers but uh and some of them have nicknames but for some reason they're really happy about it they have the same name they love it amazing i think i've heard before that you is it true that you gave them that name so you had something together like a bond because you you met your biological

father later in life and and so was it important for you to have that bond early doors with your kids yeah i didn't meet my biological father i think i was a grown man had been champion lost the title become a preacher and then i met and uh well and then i met my father for the first time i wanted to make certain all my boys would have something in common all of my children and it's something no one could take away from them and uh why not give them a good name and so when you when you were training for that you know for boxing in your first in your first stint do you what do you have names for the first and second stint do you is it the old george or the new george or is it is just the first and

second go at it yeah well the movie was a tells my whole life the first and even the second time when i became heavyweight champion of the world again 20 years later uh and so uh i went into the first time all i had was crushing power and a lot of hate and i stopped boxing for 10 years found faith i had to come back to boxing but this time there was never a punch in anger. I learned a new sport, a new style. Was it more rewarding the second time then because you were in a better place mentally? You wasn't so angry.

Was you enjoying it? Was you present more? The first time around, it was like our dream. We all dream of doing big things, but that dream became a nightmare because I was champion of the world, a wealthy young man, but I didn't find peace and happiness that I thought I would. It was a nightmare.

But the second time around, I had all of that peace and happiness, a reason to fight, not just for fame and fortune. I found good reason. And it made me more happy than the first time it really did and what do you think is more difficult winning the heavy weight world championship or looking after 10 kids I tell you that journey of raising 10 kids who you better be heavyweight champion of the world in reality. You better know something because it was a

challenge. Each child was different. I had to make certain that I didn't try to get them mixed up. Each child had their own life. Some would hide their homework.

They had homework. they'd hide it under the bed. But then the teacher would call me, I had to visit schools and PTA meetings. Oh, that was a job. Yeah. What's the gap between the oldest and the youngest? My oldest child, of course, probably 50 years old. And my youngest, about 23. I used to tease them. I said to the oldest one, I said, they're going to call you aunt.

They're going to call you the aunt. They're laughing. But you know what? The youngest became the most adult of them all. Wow. You say like you're called in for pta meetings and stuff how much are people going that's george foreman surely the teacher's also going i'm not going to take this guy on he's heavyweight world champion and that was you know and the one thing about my children most of them they really knew me as just dad. I stopped boxing to raise my children. And they grew up, all of them grew up knowing me just as dad. When I came back to boxing, that was a strange episode for them

because they saw me as another light. Yeah. But most of them had already seen me as just dad. That must have been weird. Yeah, because you did it the opposite way to most athletes, where most athletes dedicate their life to their sport and they get to 40-odd or 38 and they retire, and the kids have all grown up and left,

but you took the middle part out, which most people say that's a terrible decision, you're at your peak, and you managed to spend all that time with your kids and get the best of both worlds by going back to boxing did you know so that 10 years did you really appreciate that then and do you feel like you've got a much stronger bond with your kids now than you would have if you hadn't had that 10-year break I'm so happy I had a chance to enjoy my kids raised them and they know me as just dad we bonded and the 10 years that I was out of boxing i learned to take them to the beach

uh going to the amusement parks oh man i had a great time just raising kids it was hard for me to get back into the box into boxing because of it didn't know how to leave them and go and get on the road again how did they react to watching you get punched? Like that must have been a really weird experience for them to watch you. Did they come to the fights? Yeah, it's strange. I saw them all at one of my boxing matches way back in Reno, Nevada. Yeah.

And they were enjoying themselves prior to the match. But once they saw the fight, I remember them saying, I'm not going back again ever. They stayed out. They'd be afraid. I fought for the title. I heard stories about them running into the shower and trying to get away from it.

They didn't want to hear it. But they were happy I became champion of the world, but they weren't ready to see me box. I can tell you that. Were they more fans of the grilling machine than the boxing? Oh, boy. George has his grill, George has his grill, but George has two.

He's going on and on and on, but they love the grill. Even to this day, becoming adults, they have their George Foreman grill. Oh. they have their George Foreman grill. I mean, you could never imagine how big that would go. They mentioned it in the film as well. But like, you know, I think there'll be people that know you from the grill more than the boxing in certain places, you know, non-boxing fans.

But did you ever imagine it would become as popular? I used the grill. It was my wife who used it because I started a joint venture. We're looking for a product. And my wife had it and was using it. But I didn't particularly like it. But she convinced me, Joy, this thing really worked because I love the burgers, of course. And you make the burgers.

They were still juicy. The grease would go out, but it was still juicy. And I thought boy I'm gonna have 16 of those things one for my aunt one for my cousins and then my wife I had no idea that it would sell over 120 million of those things world wow it was a shock to me I didn't see that coming. Of all your kids, how different are they? Because we've got two kids each, and you can see the different personalities.

Can you see yourself in all of them? Is it weird in that way? When they pop up, I do see myself in each of them. When they pop up, see one, you see the other. But it's not like you have any more than two kids. You have 10, but it's not like you have any more than two kids you you have 10 but it's not like you have any more than just two kids because if one's missing your heart is broken you can't say this one's gonna take the place of the other uh i can't the experience is you just loved them all as one when you had your first grandkid, what was that like? That was really scary having

grandkids. I was a grandpa and heavyweight champion of the world at the same time. What's going on here? Can you pick them up from school, George? No, I can't. I've got to go and fight Amanda Holyfield, actually, next week. Sorry.

I'm telling you, and that's what an experience to be heavyweight champ of the world and waiting in line just like all the other parents picking up grandkids not just kids but picking up grandkids and so you're really hands-on parent then because it would be easy like obviously to go i'm just i'm focusing on boxing and stuff but you love that hands-on experience of it yeah and what an experience to be a dad because you go through life trying to become rich and famous coming out but you find out the best things in life i can't say a three but the best thing in life doesn't cost a dime just time with your children and grandkids

that's the best and when you first you know burst onto the scene like And when you first, you know, burst onto the scene, like you said, you was very angry and aggressive and ambitious. Was that who you were or was it you playing a role to sort of like establish yourself? Because you're obviously way more relaxed and funny and charismatic, where before you were just big, scary George and unfocused. Was that a character you were playing? You pick up bad habits as you go along. And the big habit I had, I was angry when I decided I wanted to be heavyweight champ of the world. My best friend,

well my stable mate and friend was Sonny Liston who had been champ of the world. And he was mean to everybody. And I thought, Hmm, that's where you gotta be. a matter of fact I became more upset than him I think he looked at me a few times to say ease up man but you pick up a lot of anger it's really easy to pick up anger and you want revenge on so many people and that's what made life really rough for me and when you had kids, did that change your outlook on things? Like, I can imagine you as a very caring father. I can't imagine you being like a stern kind of angry dad.

Boy, I tell you, kids took a lot of hate away from me. For the first time in my life having kids, I found people that I loved and nothing could come between us. That changes everything. See them smile, make them laugh. The kids look at me as a big joker. Even my grandkids to this day, they think, oh, he's joking again. And that's the most lovely part of my life is experiencing the children, raising children.

Was that one of the reasons you did The Masked Singer last year? Was that because of your kids and your grandkids? That's a really popular show with young people. Yeah, it was my wife. She'd been watching it for ages. They'd been after me for over a year. Come on, do the show. But I wouldn't. But she convinced me, George, I want

you to do it. She enjoyed it. So I did it. And come to find out, I can sing. So now the next thing is to do it. She enjoyed it. So I did it. And come to find out, I can sing. So now the next thing is to do an album. Why not? If you don't buy that album. So when did you have your first child? Had you found your faith at this point?

Or did you have kids before you found your faith? When was your first child born? Yeah, I had my child when I your faith when was your first child born yeah i had my child uh when i found uh jesus christ my first child had already become like four years old so they don't even know me even to this day as anything but daddy the preacher yeah and do you think it almost unlocked a sort of fearlessness inside you to go, you know, you had this faith now and you lost this anger and you sort of it was almost like you was liberated from what you were before. And I think when you are liberated, you have a freedom to do anything. And you wanted to be a preacher and then do the youth club. Do you feel that that is sort of more powerful than the strength and anger inside?

It's a much more positive energy that you found. A great description. Liberated I was. All of a sudden, I had real, what you call, courage. It takes a lot of courage to be kind and love people because you think, hey, what's going to happen to me if I love this person? I really found courage to love my fellow man. And that night in Puerto Rico where I died in this vision, I was dead and alive again. I had a second chance to live, found out the greatest invention of all time, not the grill, but the human beings. That is the grill, the second greatest.

Human beings, man, I love them. I've not met anyone in my life to this day that i didn't care about and wanted to be kind to them and that's what that experience did once you have a second chance to live it changes everything for people because obviously that's a key part in the film is uh that moment but for people who aren't aware of that, talk us through that near-death experience. Yeah, I had been heavyweight champ of the world and on top of the world. Then I lost the title to Muhammad Ali.

I became, oh, even more angry. And I wanted revenge. I wanted to become champ of the world again. But one night after a boxing match, when I was number one contender, I found God in the dressing room that experienced I was dead and alive in a split second over my head, under my feet. There was nothing hopelessness. If someone tells you to swim in the sea and there's nowhere to go, that's the way it was. And then I said, I don't care if there's

death. I still believe there's a God. When I said that, rescued from nothing. I saw blood on my forehead and on my hand, and I screamed, Jesus Christ is coming alive in me. Oh, they rushed me to intensive care. I can tell you that. I was in a hospital looking at that button go ping ping ping and i knew if it going flat that was the end of me and uh but that changed me i uh like i said for 10 years i didn't box i couldn't make reckoning i couldn't understand that i didn't believe religion existed but i walked away from that that day uh with religion and then later on I found faith in God I couldn't change the best thing that ever happened to me was finding God and how quickly was that change then obviously you had that moment where you saw something and then you was in the

hospital was it like a light switch going on or did you over time it sort of you know you the way you was thinking about things your outlook changed yeah right in that hospital i said oh i just got hit too hard or maybe something this maybe that you try to talk your way out of it but the smell of death i've never forgotten i couldn't talk myself out of that i was dead and given a second chance the first thing you want to do is go home and tell your mom, hey, I love you. Because when I was dying, it was like the only thing that bothered me, I hadn't said goodbye to my mother who had put up with so much. So I got a chance to go back home, spend time with my

mother, embrace the life with children. And that changed me instantly. Well, I guess in a matter of what, a week, I had to find a new joy for me and learn to live with it. It disappointed a lot of people because they loved the champ at that time. But the champ was gone. That night I died literally and that was the end of the old boxer. A new one was born. Took me 10 years to get to know him. It's amazing that like this, it's such an incredible story. It's amazing it's taken this long to be made into a film because you read, you know, your life story and you go, well, this is more like incredible than any film in a way.

Have you been considering this for years? How did it come about? Well, a lot of people talked about it and the opportunity would come and go. But once the people at Affirm and Sony Pictures decided to do it, we got a script, something I can live with. Because if you're a celebrity like, well, some of us are, you hide your life. You go through life with big gates around your house. So nobody can come in, tinted glass on your cars, dog glasses.

You go through life, hiding your life, go through times. Now it was time to reveal. I wrote a book and it was time to reveal. And it's not easy to go out and tell your story to the whole world. They see things that you thought, Hmm, I thought that was a secret. That's not easy, I'm telling you. It's not something you go back and say, yay! You say, boy, did they see that?

And they did. The movie revealed some things, even for me. When you put it in art, you can see it, not just read it. You can see it. Do you think you're more proud of the movie or the grill? You're obsessed with the grill. Let's see how the movie does first. The movie is a wonderful experience, but that grill,

I can jump up and have a burger, salmon, grilled salmon. Oh, boy, I love that grill i can jump up and have a burger salmon grilled salmon oh boy i love that grill the people from the movie company at the moment are going say the movie george okay i forgot george i think we've done pretty well we know what we didn't mention muhammad ali for 25 minutes and you mentioned him obviously he plays a big part in your life story and in the film how do you think the second George Foreman would have dealt with Muhammad Ali rather than the angry first incarnation of George how do you think that that would have gone yeah I fought the man and I tried to beat him up and everything I tried and of course I lost the title and when I lost the title I was devastated. That's why I had so much

vengeance, hate in my heart. I wanted to be champ of the world again. But just at the time when I could have, I found God. And in the meantime, I became friends. Mohammed started calling me. We became friends, talked on the phone. And then the iPhone, the advent of the iTelephone, where we can see one another as we spoke. I fell in love with Muhammad Ali. Amazing. He was one of the longest friends I've had, friendship I'd ever had, and I miss him to this day.

I love the guy. Wow. Did you ever talk about parenting in the boxing circuit? Because obviously Muhammad Ali's got kids, and it's such a macho world. the guy wow did you ever talk about parenting in the boxing circuit like because obviously muhammad ali's got kids and it's such a macho world would you ever be like oh i'm having a bit of a nightmare muhammad with my my kid she you know she wants to stay out late i don't know what to do did you ever have conversations like that you know strange with muhammad he always wanted to win didn't realize how competitive he was we'd'd talk on the phone, George, how many grandkids you have?

I'd say, maybe three. I have five. I always wanted to win. And, of course, both of us built our children were a greater part of our life than you could imagine. You grow up and you talk about what are you going to tell your kids, what are you going to teach them. The most important thing we both learned to teach our children is that we love them no matter what someone does to them or say about them they had us

because obviously you achieved so much in your life and your stuff how did you deal with parenting kids there are you going you can do all these things? Are you going to follow your own path? How do you deal with those kind of things with your kids? Well, we built a big home with a lot of rooms, but I never displayed any of the world title belts and championships and trophies. I wanted them to know it was about them going out,

doing those things for themselves, not to try to compare themselves with their achievement with mine and that was easy my children learned to be themselves and not to be uh the child of George Foreman but themselves they were George Foreman and I never did want them to say oh George Foreman's're dead i wanted people to meet my children and say and ask them their name and they've done that they've become great people with their own identity yeah but they are called george as well george which is a slight problem they're called george but uh but they're their own people but you know they are their own people. But you know what? They are their own person. Because George, my son George, he's proud of what he's accomplished.

And you know, George, he's never offended by what George has accomplished. But that other George, I'm telling you, we've had some problems with. But then George straightens him out too. So did the older kids start looking after the younger kids after a while then, like, and helping out with all the jobs? Yeah, when you have so many kids, you can't make it without one looking after the other. They have their own thing together, the children.

Even now, there are these chat lines uh with sibling chats they still talk with one another they have a life beyond george foreman the dad they have their own lives and i'm really happy about that and what were holidays like when you've got 10 kids where would you go would you stay at home how did that work where you don't want to go out there and promote Christmas. Can you imagine buying 10 gifts for all of your children and then 15 for your grandkids? So what is best to do when those holidays come is disappear. Until it's all over. So how does it work with, you say they've got a big like group or like a WhatsApp group or whatever.

Like, so do you have big family events? Is there like on your birthday or something? Is it just everyone comes to you and it's like kids everywhere? George is all George is as far as the eye can see. Yeah. Their birthdays are more important to me than anything. When one, one of my kids have birthdays, we all try to be a part of it. My birthday is really special.

They all try to decide what they're going to do for me. One year in particular, I told them, what are we going to do for you? I said, I'd like to have just a birthday with nothing but my grandkids. And that was presented to me none of the kids just grandkids that was probably the most wonderful birthday i've ever had amazing amazing being a grandparent is that almost more rewarding than being a parent because obviously as a parent you're you know you're having to discipline you all those kind of things as a grandparent you can literally just be fun grandpa george that's it being a grandfather is so rewarding all you have

to do is be nice and they like you i don't have to go out there and tell them don't do this sit up straight be a bit with the grandkids all you do is just love them and i think that's more rewarding to me or the being a grandpa is no doubt one of And I think that's more rewarding to me. Being a grandpa is no doubt one of the best things that ever happened to me. So when you have all the grandkids over and like you said, that was your favorite birthday, what do you do? Are they just watching telly or playing in the garden

or do you organize activities for them? What's your dream day with the grandkids? Just sitting around in my big living room and watching them. They come by, take a picture or two. They tell jokes. They ask me something. I tell another joke. It's a joke-telling time.

But the most important thing is just sitting there watching them. And for some reason, they're entertained with it too. I think they think, like I said earlier, they think I'm some big joker. So I love it. You've had a sitcom as well. So you are a big joker. There was a George sitcom.

I mean, obviously, you've done everything in your life. Have they watched any of that? Do they go back and watch your old fights and stuff? Yeah, some of the kids go back and they watch some of the old boxing matches because they didn't, especially the grandkids, they didn't even know I was an athlete. Then each one of them get to a certain age where they turn on and say, that's George Foreman.

And most of them even call me George Foreman, not even knowing that I was a boxer. And when they see me on television, there's George doing commercials. They've enjoyed it. And they come back and explain to him, ask me questions about my life. The grandkids growing up, knowing their grandpa and asking questions

is a wonderful thing. And do you, obviously you've, you know, you're a much happier George Foreman than the angry guy that burst onto the scene. Couldn't you still turn that on if you wanted to? I know you don't like to, but, you know, when your daughter started dating and the new boyfriend wasn't being very nice, have you still got it in your locker just to sort of turn up the scariness?

Well, I tell everybody I went back to boxing the second time and my thing was never a punch in anger. I never was angry. I never wanted to hurt anybody. I had to become champ of the world. But there was no anger and no hate at all. Now, when your kids, especially your daughters, start dating, I mean, you start putting this frown on your face, like, you know,

for the guys to know to bring those girls back home. I mean it. But other than that, I've had a lot of fun with it. If you had that more, you know, never throwing a punch in anger at the start of your career, do you think you would have beaten Muhammad Ali and carried on beating other people? You know, do you think you would have changed how you was as a younger fighter?

It would have been an asset. All of that anger didn't serve me well. I remember even especially with Muhammad Ali, I was just trying to knock him out, knock him out, beat him, knock him out of the ring. I didn't even care about strategy. For some reason, I wanted to get it over as quick as I could. But second time around around I really learned

boxing as a skill anger was gone I had to learn skill I became better at it if I had done that in the beginning I never would have stopped boxing 10 years out I would have had 10 years to become a better boxer I mean you're so it must be so driven to do that twice do you see that in your like that's such a mindset and obviously you came from a very different background to what your kids are coming from because they're coming from you know the life of the world heavyweight champion and grill grill king is it difficult to keep them grounded in that sense in the same way you were when you were coming up? It's not easy one morning one of my boys my first son as a matter of fact i heard him arguing with my wife and uh she had some genes they were clean but it seemed to be they were looked faded

and i heard him say i don't want to look poor i heard him and I took him back to my neighborhood. I showed him the places where I tried to escape from police, where I live. He looked at me like, I don't think you're my dad. And so, because they had such a good upbringing, everything they ever wanted,

they had. And so that's why the movie, it made me happy because they get a chance to see the real life of George Foreman and make them understand and appreciate their lives even more so than they did. And have they seen the movie? Yeah, the kid, they've gone to screenings of the movie and watched it one after another, and they come back and tell me, I didn know that i didn't know that a lot of things were cut out of the movie about my life and i tell them i wish they had been cut out of my own

life too let them go um you've had things in your life that haven't gone well for you and then you've come back like you know near-death experience and that lost to muhammad ali was you know worldwide number one news at the time and you the new young thing what advice would you give to people where the thing they wanted most hasn't gone for them and it feels like this the end there's no other options of what to do what advice would you give to someone because you are the person that has come back and lived different lives you haven't just done one thing. You've been liberated and tried that. What advice would you give to that person

that's down at the moment thinking, oh, it's not gone my way? Yeah, what a wonderful chance to have a second chance at life. The most important thing I want is fame and wealth. And I had embraced all those things. And then I had a chance to lose them. And then that's when I found out the world

was a better place. People would walk up to me and give me a boost on the car. And I'd try to pay them. They said, get out of here, biggin'. They didn't even know me as George Foreman. I found out that it was a better world even without all of that fame and fortune. And I appreciated life and friendship, forgiving, all of those things made for a better person. I learned to forgive. And once you forgive, you find out you got so many phone numbers that you can call and recall again that I had lost. And I tell people, it doesn't matter how far you fall,

all you got to do is brush off your pants, spit in your palms, and go another round with life because there's some great things around the corner for us if we just look for them. And boy, life has gotten better and better. And I tell people too, even now, putting my both feet on the floor every morning and think, hmm, what's next?

I got potential, you know. I still have potential. There's a chance that I can do all things again. I'm always anxious to find different business. I don't want to be a boxer anymore. I don't want anybody hitting on me. But the point of it is I still believe there's a future for me. I still believe.

Wow. Different grill? Different grill. Maybe the fat increasing machine, because now it's all about carbs are the bad thing, aren't they? Give me ideas, I'll do it. George, it's been so inspiring talking to you. And I think you're a great example of when what you could perceive

as the worst thing to happen to you, which would have been, you know, the rumble in the jungle, losing that fight, it feels like that was the best thing that happened to you because it was the making of you. And then you had that night in Puerto Rico and it changed everything. And that forgiveness and liberation has led to all these amazing things that you never could have imagined that that first George Foreman would have gone on to achieve. It's quite remarkable. Wow. Forgiveness is that subtle thread

that binds both love and friendship. If you learn to forgive, if you're without it, you could even lose children. You can be without a mother or father just because you don't forgive i learned and boy i got 15 bank kids 10 kids oh i got it all now and you've got hopefully a number one film uh george this has been absolutely amazing we've got one last question we always like to ask um which is if your um partner your wife was listening to this or your partner, what's one thing that your partner does parenting wise that frustrated you over the years with the 10 kids? And what was the one thing she did that was like, oh, she's so amazing. I'm so lucky to have children with her.

Oh, one thing, boy, that got me is my wife made out only the children behave. She started making me behave. Pick up those pants. You can't wear that shirt out there. And that was the most rough part of being married. But as life goes on and you see your kids take on those little life lessons she's taught us, I'm glad that she was able to be the disciplinary person she was. I'm happy about that.

It makes me love her more. She disciplined us all. George, it's been a joy to speak to you. The film, Big George Foreman, which is full of the positivity that has welled through this interview, is out April 28th in cinemas. It's an amazing film, George.

We're really proud. It's incredible. And you're an absolute inspiration. Thanks for letting us chat to you. Thanks so much for letting us chat to you thanks for having me guys i love that josh yeah can we just say for people who can't see it pathetically i'm wearing my wildcard boxing hoodie and rob scott put a pair of boxing gloves they're always there to be honest they're not always there they are always there they are not always there

they are I've got a new camera because that's why it normally cuts off there let's go back and check the footage let's go back and check the footage VAR VAR

VARM now what I wanted to say though because I'm not religious at all but I totally do agree with that forgiveness thing and being liberated

because I don't think you have to be religious to sort of believe in that but and I think he's a great example of that because if anyone was driven by anger and resentment more, it was George Foreman one. But then afterwards, he's become the most charismatic man I've ever met.

Oh no, sorry, second behind Ali McCoy. He's also got five kids. Five boys. What's going on there? And my dad's got five boys. What, three? Yeah, there you go. George Foreman, watch the you go. George Foreman.

Watch the film. Big George Foreman out April 28, as they say in America. Yes. Speak to you later. See you on Tuesday. Bye. I'm Ivo Graham. And I'm Alex Keeley.

We're stand-up comedians who love music. And we'd like to tell you about our new podcast, Gig Pigs. Alex and I have been watching live music together for years, so we've decided to compromise this hobby, and potentially our friendship, by turning it into a project. Every episode, we'll be going to a gig, and then discussing it afterwards with the friends who came along to third wheel us. Asking questions like, did you enjoy the gig?

Did you check the set list in advance? Did you appreciate the artist's mid-song banter? Did this gig profoundly change your relationship with live music? Was the cloakroom queue prohibitively long? We've been to Franz Ferdinand with Rosematte Feo and Emma Ciddy, Kendrick Lamar with Phil Wang, and The Cure with Cellular AB. And next month, we're going with Ed Gamble to watch Napalm Death. Episodes are out from this Thursday and every Thursday thereafter

until attending live music once a week with a different guest becomes logistically impossible. We have no idea how soon that could be, so join us now by going to your preferred podcast platform and searching Gig Pigs. If you like Josh Whittacombe, you're in luck. That's because the co-host of Parents in Hell and The Last Leg Maestro is the guest on the first episode of the Always Be Comedy podcast. Out now, and with me, your host and emcee of Always Be Comedy, James Gill. Each week, the cream of comedy curates their fantasy comedy gig.

Who'd open? Who'd close? What gig nightmare do they never want to relive? All this and much, much more. It's essentially comedy gossip and chat. You know, I remembered this the other day. My first ever gig. It was like a Friday night open mic night. And they said, we'll just announce you on when you're on. We haven't got a running order.

It's a bit free form. I got to the end of the night and then they wrapped it up and they'd forgotten to put me on. And I'd sat there the whole night. We've also got Stuart Lee, Hill Jen Brister Ben Bailey Smith Maisie Adam Al Murray Rachel Parris and many many more

coming up that's the Always Be Comedy podcast out now with new episodes every Tuesday if you are not

in the queue and you are waiting then step to the side I got in touch and said yeah sorry mate you didn't seem like yourself the other and you are waiting, then step to the side. I got in touch. I said, yeah, sorry, mate. You didn't seem like yourself the other day. You've only met me three times. The self-service checkout. I don't care what you're called. I'm not getting tricked into working here. People at festivals in those stupid jester hats.

I glanced at a tampon. £2.69 for a bottle of water. Why is your Wi-Fi code 10 characters long? The bus starts guiding you. I don't care if you're watching. Boots cut jeans. What's upset you now? I'm Sean Walsh.

And I'm Paul McCaffrey. We are the hosts of What's Upset You Now? The UK's angriest podcast. And we are back for Series 5. Booyah! We all love a good moan, don't we? And Sean and I, well, Sean mostly, are two of the best in the absolute business. And every Tuesday and Thursday, we moan about all those little things that really get our goat.

We also have guests. What guests have we had, Sean? We have had Romesh Ranganathan, Rob Beckett, Mark Lamar, Joe Brand, Catherine Ryan, Tom Allen. 15-minute episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Brand new What's Up Set You Now Series 5 out now oh for God's sake