Jake Humphreys Painful Past: Bullies Reappear After Fame

Jake Humphrey has recalled how he felt 'desperately unhappy' and 'total loneliness' during his childhood where he suffered extreme bullying.

The TV presenter, 47, described his younger years as 'physical, mental and general humiliation' in an extract from his new memoir for the Sunday Times magazine.

Jake revealed he would hide in the school car park from cruel bullies, who on one occasion pushed him out onto the playground while he was naked.

Admitting the devastating experiences have stayed with him as an adult, Jake said 'that stuff never leaves you' and taking his own children to school brings it all back.

After moving to Norwich age eight due to his father's job, Jake said: 'That was the first time I remember feeling desperately unhappy. I was quite emotionally aware but rubbish at the things kids assign value to, like sport. I had zero friends, it was total loneliness. 

'At lunchtime I’d hide in the car park between two school buses because that was better than being bullied. It was physical, mental and general humiliation. Getting changed after swimming once, the lads grabbed me before I’d got my pants on and pushed me into the playground. I stood with one hand over my k***, the other over my bum with every kid laughing at me. That stuff never leaves you.'

Jake's mother Elizabeth, who is a retired teacher, spoke of his 'enormous emotional intelligence as a child' and told how the bullies have since tried to befriend Jake.

She said: 'The bullying affected Jake hugely, and he has carried those experiences all his life, but he’s turned them into something positive. When he moved back to Norwich from London, now quite a well-known face, some of those who made his life a misery wanted to buy him a drink. He’d say, "No, you’re all right, mate."

Jake explained that he still suffers the same feeling of hurt when he receives trolling on social media as an adult due to the impact his childhood experiences had. 

Jake previously spoke of how he was unlikely to return to presenting football after receiving a barrage of hate on social media.

The former face of BT Sport's football coverage left the company upon its re-brand to TNT Sports, as the front of and shows.

He began focusing more on his podcast, High Performance, in which he interviews a number of guests about their journeys to success.

But he , now TNT Sports, and was often targeted online by fans watching shows he was on.

Speaking exclusively to The Athletic, Jake described his fear of online abuse, and revealed that he is likely to have turned his back on a career that didn't bring him too much joy.

'I still get triggered with things like this because my head goes, "You have this great conversation, you’ve been really honest. What headline do they pick?" he said. 'Because that can then just bring me more heat, more hate.

'In some ways, it makes you think, "What’s the point even talking about this stuff?" But then I think I should talk about it, because this is a lived experience that I wouldn’t want someone else to live.

'It’s hard when you’re just going to work to try to earn your money and pay your mortgage and feed your kids, and you’re getting pelters from people who assume you hate their football club, or that you’re not very good at your job.

'That ground me down. I’m just not very good at dealing with that sort of stuff. I remember saying to Gary Lineker, ‘"How do you deal with that?". And he said, "I don’t care about it, it bounces off me".

'I would go, "Yeah, I’m gonna feel the same", but I just couldn’t. I never felt comfortable with that sort of criticism, because I don’t understand it. For someone to think I’m not very good at my job is fine but some of it strayed into bullying territory.

'It would have to be something really interesting to tempt me back. I love doing big events that test my skills as a broadcaster, but the constant, relentless, sausage-factory type approach of just doing football match after football match? Probably no, on reflection.'

Jake has been married to his wife Harriet since 2007.

Jake and Harriet met at Liquid Nightclub in Norwich at a Phats and Small gig, with the former BBC star describing her as the 'most beautiful women I'd ever seen'.

The pair share children Florence and Sebastian and Jake previously took to Instagram  with an emotional post to mark their 25th anniversary as a couple in August 2024.

He wrote: 'Harriet is the most loyal, tolerant, ego-free, encouraging, humble, devoted, determined, brave and brilliant person I’ve ever met. She’s the best of us all.'

'Love starts as a feeling, but then becomes a choice and Harriet - I find myself choosing you more every day. Happy ‘day we met’ anniversary xxx'.