Jordan Conroy has won praise for opening up about being a “child of domestic abuse”.
Speaking on the Off The Ball podcast, the Ireland rugby 7’s player admitted it was something he had “locked away” for a long time.
The sports star recalled his early childhood in Germany, and said he felt “angry” and “helpless” not being able to help his mum Jennie when she was being “physically abused”.
Jordan and his family moved to Tullamore in Co. Offaly after escaping the abuse when he was 10.
He confessed: “It’s just now that I’ve gotten older, that I’ve started to think about it and it just makes sense now why I was the child that I was because I didn’t know that watching your mother getting physically abused, beaten at such a young age, you just don’t know what to do, I just felt so helpless at those times.”
“That little boy, it was either fight or flight, but I could never fight. It was always running away, trying to find help. It’s something that I carry with me for life.”
Jordan continued: “And the reason then I became so troublesome in school was because seeing my stepdad…”
“I grew up with a lot of hatred as well, like five, six years of age, and I just kind of transferred that hatred onto people… I suppose that was my coping mechanism and it was probably a very toxic one, but I was a child, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I was a child of domestic abuse and I’ve just kind of… locked [that] away for so long in my life. It’s only now that as I gotten older that I’ve started to think about it and it just makes sense now why I was the child that was.”
Jordan’s mother Jennie also appeared on the podcast, and admitted: “I blame myself for it. I think the biggest part, I didn’t see what it was doing to him. I carried that guilt for so long.”
Jennie recalled: “I remember one incident, many moons ago. I was going down to pick him up from school… and my ex husband came down after me. Jordan was running from school, running up to me.”
“My ex-husband followed me out and he kept screaming and roaring at me over something because I had walked away and he started beating me on the street.
“I’ll always remember Jordan screaming, just screaming, and getting up and running away. He was helpless.”
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Under a clip of the podcast on Instagram, Jordan won praise for being so open and honest about his past.
One Instagram user commented: “Fair play to both of you for speaking out about this. His mother’s guilt 💔 as if she asked for any of it. She did a great job 💚.”
Another wrote: “Very brave to tell your story @jordan_conroy19 👏 Hopefully it will help others who have suffered similar experiences.”
A third person commented: “Fairplay for sharing your story. I’m sure it’ll help many others who may have gone through a similar experience.”
