Mark Fish and his firstborn; Luke Fish.
Images via Instagram
@fishmarkanthony/
@lukeanthonyfish
Mark Fish’s son blames star’s wild past for his addiction
Luke Fish – the son of retired soccer star Mark Fish – claims his father’s wild past exposed him to addiction and left him with PTSD.
Mark Fish and his firstborn; Luke Fish.
Images via Instagram
@fishmarkanthony/
@lukeanthonyfish
Mark Fish is widely known for his wild, partying past – and that according to his estranged son Luke is what influenced his own downward spiral of depression and drug abuse.
In fact, the 24-year-old – whose mother is Mark’s first wife Loui – claims his rollercoaster childhood left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 24-year-old spoke to You Magazine about his own troubled past and the role his retired soccer dad had to play in it.
ALSO READ: ‘More worried about his other family’: Mark Fish’s son on estrangement
DRUGS, REHAB, AND AN ALTER EGO
Luke Fish – who was recently been released from a Cape Town rehabilitation centre after being treated for drug addiction – reflected on the past few years.
He said: “I had such low self-esteem. I was suicidal for three to four years. I didn’t want to wake up in the morning and breathing felt just too difficult.”
Luke admitted to abusing prescription medication during a time when he temporarily changed his identity to “Seth Omen” – in a bid to break away from being associated with dad Mark Fish’s name.
He also used drugs like heroin and weed. He continued: “I was in a very dark period. I started abusing my medication and I had a vendetta against a lot of people, including my father.
“I wanted to change my name because I wanted to break away from my identity. But at the same time, I was lost. I didn’t know who or what I wanted to be.”
Following his treatment, Luke ditched his “dark alter ego”.
He said: “I took all the darkness and pain I felt and wrapped it around me and now that I’ve stepped into recovery, I feel like myself – or better yet, a new version of myself”.
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST DAD MARK FISH
But while Luke has sought rehabilitation for healthier habits, he remains estranged from Mark Fish.
He added: “I don’t have a good relationship with my dad. He’s more worried about his other family, but my mom is my guardian angel”.
The athlete’s firstborn previously spoke to You Magazine last year about being exposed to domestic abuse.
He said: “I grew up in a traumatic environment where I suffered a lot of physical abuse from my father”.
He added: “I fought him to protect my mom”.
Luke also alleges that he began abusing drugs after being “physically and sexually assaulted” by guests at wild parties thrown by Mark Fish and Loui.
According to You, neither Loui nor Mark denied the allegations.
MARK FISH WIVES AND CHILDREN
Mark Fish and ex-wife Loui’s volatile romance has been well-documented in the public eye.
The couple wed in 2000 after meeting in a nightclub, during which time Loui admitted to “doing a line of coke”. The revelation was made in Loui’s bombshell book Walking In My Choos, which she published a year after their 2011 divorce.
In the “tell-all”, Loui alleged that Mark Fish was a “cocaine-sniffing, stripper-loving, serial cheat”, who was also “verbally abusive”.
Mark and Loui welcomed sons Luke and Zeke during their time together.
In 2015, Mark Fish had another messy marriage with his second wife Salomé Janse van Rensburg, whom he wed in Joburg club Taboo.
Despite dating for six years, the marriage lasted just 10 months reported City Press. The marriage – labelled “toxic” – was filled with allegations of infidelity and domestic abuse, claims the publication
During his marriage to Salomé, Mark fathered son Blake and daughter Isabella.
