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Joe Wicks has revealed he bought his mum a house after his parents helped him out financially at the start of his fitness career.
Joe, AKA The Body Coach, is now worth an estimated £15million thanks to revenue generated by advertising on his YouTube channel and sales from his hugely popular cookbooks.
The fitness star has sold over 3.5million books in the UK, which has far exceeded initial expectations.
In an Instagram Stories video shared on Tuesday, Joe said: “I’m eternally grateful for every single person who followed me and bought one of them books for themselves or family member. That changed my life, I never in a million years predicted we’d sell anywhere near that many books.
“They said if we sell 70,000 books in the first year we’ve had a success, and we sold like one million books.”
Joe then revealed that the money he has earned as The Body Coach has made it possible for him to buy his mum a house of her own, after years of living in council accommodation.
Joe explained: “it allowed me to do the one thing I think most boys dream of doing when they earn a bit of dough - buy your mum a house.”
Joe, who borrowed £2,000 from his parents to kickstart his personal training dream, added it felt “amazing” to be able to buy his mum such an extravagant gift.
“My mum’s always lived in a council house, we’ve never had mortgages, it wasn’t on the radar for us,” he said. “So when I could take that money I earned from that book and say ‘mum, I’m buying your house. It’s yours,’ that was an amazing moment for me. That’s something she ’s always dreamed off.
“She’s wanted to own something, so she lives there and she’s so happy.”
Joe has now released nine books, the first of which became the second most bought cookbook of all time, behind Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals.
Earlier this month, Joe revealed he had raised £200,000 for the NHS with his online PE classes.
He has been holding daily workouts on his YouTube channel since lockdown began, and previously revealed he would be donating all of the ad revenue generated to the NHS to help with the fight against coronavirus.