Ulrika Jonsson has defended Joe Wicks for taking his daughter Indie out of school for ‘at least a year’.
Fitness coach Joe, 37, announced last month that his daughter Indie, five, would not be returning to school in September after a year on reception.
This week, he shared how he’s decided to homeschool her because he wants to spend more time with his three children, whom he shares with former glamor model wife Rosie.
Now Ulrika, 56, has defended his decision, saying it was “heartwarming” to hear him talk about providing “stability” and love for his children.
In her column in The sunshe confessed that she initially “shied away” from the idea because she is concerned about children’s socializing if they are homeschooled.
Honest: Ulrika Jonsson has defended Joe Wicks for deciding to take his daughter Indie out of school for ‘at least a year’
Big decision: Fitness coach Joe, 37, announced last month that his daughter Indie, five, would not be returning to school in September after a year on reception
However, she went on to support the fitness guru when she pointed out that children in many European countries don’t start school until the age of seven.
“He’s only keeping his daughter home for a year because he just wants to spend a little more time with her,” she explained.
“It is heartwarming to hear him talk about providing stability and love to his children and he wants them to know that he will always be there for them.”
It comes after Joe – who is also a father to Marley, three, and Leni, 11 months – defended his decision to take his daughter Indie out of school.
“I just love being with my kids,” he shared The times. “It’s not something permanent, but we want to be together for another year.”
‘It’s not like I’m saying: I’m going to home school my children and live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. It’s really just about our lifestyle (now),’ he added, noting that in some European countries the older children go to school.
In Britain, most children start full-time school in September, after their fourth birthday.
Reflecting on his own upbringing, in which he left him in the care of his heroin-addicted father at the age of twelve after his mother sought help for her severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, Joe explained, “I don’t want to be someone who isn’t. present in my children’s lives.’
Family time: Joe shared how he just wants to spend more time with his three kids – Indie, Marley, three, and Leni, 11 months – who he shares with wife Rosie
Support: Now Ulrika, 56, has defended his decision, saying it was ‘heartwarming’ to hear him talk about providing ‘stability’ and love for his children
“What I try to give my children is stability and love, and I want them to know that I am always there for them.”
Joe has previously joked that he is an “old-fashioned parent” who doesn’t allow his kids to sit behind iPads and use phones.
In July, Joe admitted that Indie ‘maybe go to school next year. We have no idea in the long term, but we want to do home schooling for at least a year.’
The national gym coach added that the family looks forward to spending more time in the US in the coming year as he is determined to “take my message and my mission elsewhere.”
They’ll call his Santa Monica apartment home for a while, but he’s insisted it’s not a permanent move from their £4m Surrey mansion.
Joe has had an apartment in sunny Santa Monica since 2016 and has been spending weeks at a time in the second home with his wife Rosie and their three children: Indie, five, Marley, three, and Leni, eleven months.
But for the year ahead, the star is determined to capitalize on the American fanbase he’s built through his wildly successful online workouts. caused him to gain world fame during the pandemic.
Joe has long been enamored of life in LA, having bought his 100-year-old beach house in Santa Monica after visiting it in 2010 and promising a friend he’d move to the coastal city one day.
Joe recently opened the lid on his own problematic upbringing in his 2022 documentary Joe Wicks: Facing My Childhood.
Joe’s mother Raquela left him with his heroin-addicted father Gary at the age of 12, to get help for her OCD.
Joe has praised his mother for being ‘brave’ enough to get the help she needed in the form of five months of therapy, while his older brother Nikki, 38, tried to protect him from life’s daily horrors with their addicted father.
The fitness guru explained how his mother feared he and his brothers would be put under surveillance if she told people about her problems.
Joe recalled that he was always ‘aware’ of his father’s addiction and explained how it affected him as a child: ‘Heroin addiction is a really destructive thing.
Relocating: Joe has said his family is looking forward to spending more time in the US in the coming year as he is determined to “take my message and my mission elsewhere”
“I was just anxious, scared and nervous all the time. I acted at school. I was disruptive, I was the naughty kid because nobody stopped me and said, ‘What’s going on?’
Speak with the Big problem Last year, Joe spoke out during his school days, admitting he needed to find a way to harness his extra energy in class, even suspecting he might have undiagnosed ADHD.
‘I loved going to school, I loved sports and fitness. But I was very disruptive and distracted in every other class, especially the ones that required a focus that I didn’t have,” he said.
“That led to me being ‘the bad boy.’ But with PE, I found a way to manage my energy, to really harness it. So that was a great relief from my stress.’
“I was never diagnosed with ADHD, but I may have had it. I just wanted people to ask me, what’s going on? What is wrong? Why are you playing? Don’t just say: you’re that annoying kid, go to jail – that isolation didn’t help me.’