EX-ARSENAL and Liverpool ace Jermaine Pennant has revealed how bullies called him the “Cornflake Kid” at school after his parents abandoned him.
The 40-year-old former Premier League winger has spoken previously about how he lost his career earnings of over £10million — and got in such a mess he even forgot he owned a house.
AFPJermaine Pennant has opened up on how he was bullied at school[/caption]
News Group Newspapers LtdThe ex-Arsenal ace was called the ‘Cornflake Kid’ after his parents abandoned him[/caption]
Pennant also landed himself in trouble throughout his career, including a stint behind bars, and has admitted to binge-drinking and addictions while battling depression.
And after Everton’s Dele Alli bravely opened up about his own harrowing childhood trauma, Pennant has appeared on talkSPORT to discuss his own problematic past.
The ex-Birmingham and Stoke winger revealed how he was abandoned by his parents and called “Cornflake Kid” by bullies at school.
Discussing his problems as an adult, he told talkSPORT: “What I’d do, I’d play up. Because I had so much trauma and so much darkness inside me that no one never knew.
“I was embarrassed to tell my story, what I went through, where I came from, what I saw.
“I was abandoned by my mother when I was three, my father had me on weekends and when he took me back and my mum was never there.
“My father raised me to the best of his abilities and I was around six or seven, he then neglected me.
“So I would take myself to school, make my own dinners, which was Cornflakes. It got to the point where my mates would call me ‘The Cornflake Kid’, because that’s all I’d eat.
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“Then my dad got into drugs, people coming in an out of the house, I’d say he was an addict. So I had no mum, no father, surrounded by drugs, guns and crime.”
Pennant, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, then explained how that childhood trauma followed him throughout his career.
But he has since turned his life around after undergoing therapy and says that gave him an eye-opening experience.
Nottingham-born Pennant said: “I thought I was a loose cannon. That is who I am, I make mistakes, I’m not trustworthy and my life was falling apart.
“I sat down and I thought, ‘what is wrong with me?’ This is multiple times throughout my career. When I went to prison, when I came out.
“Things sometimes just didn’t change. I was going over things and making the same mistakes. I thought, ‘what am I doing? How many kids would give an arm and a leg to be a professional footballer?’
“Why do I keep making mistakes? What is wrong with me? Again, I didn’t understand the trauma, I didn’t understand ADHD [Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]. I was only diagnosed last year.
“I went to a therapist to try get some answers and I did and it has helped amazingly. They did this test with me called an ACE test.
“They ask you ten questions and the higher you are, the higher risk you are of health risks such as alcoholism, drug use, depression, suicide.
“I scored nine out of ten, I was like ‘wow’ when they told me and without help, I would have continued to make the same mistakes.”
News Group Newspapers LtdPennant was diagnosed with ADHD last year[/caption] Read More