The mother of snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan has opened up about the moment the Rocket learned that his father had been taken into custody when he was vacationing in Thailand.
The mother of snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan has disclosed how the star broke down on the phone upon learning that his father had been taken into custody.
In 1992, Ronnie O’Sullivan Sr. was given a life sentence for the murder of Bruce Bryan, a driver for the Kray twins’ elder brother Charlie Kray, a gangster. Before being freed in 2010, O’Sullivan’s father had served eighteen years in prison and had missed his son’s first three global snooker titles.
In the recently released documentary Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, the snooker legend discussed the experience and its impact on a 16-year-old Rocket with his parents.
Ronnie’s mother, Maria O’Sullivan, described how she learned of her husband’s apprehension in the wee hours of the morning, just a few days before the Essex potter was scheduled to travel to Thailand for an event.
“Barry Hearn called me and told me that Maria needed to tell him,” the woman stated. ‘Barry, I can’t,’ I answered. It will shatter his heart. I just can’t do it, Barry; it’ll crush his heart. I asked, “Please send Ronnie to Thailand; I’m trying to keep him safe.”
“If he travels there three days ahead of schedule, he won’t understand what’s happening. It will be a nightmare and his father will return. It will be an error and he won’t know any different.” O’Sullivan duly left for Thailand, but not before Maria had to break the devastating news to her son: “I called up…and told him, ‘your dad’s in prison.’ He said ‘what for?’ I said ‘they’ve done him for murder.’ And I heard him screaming, screaming down the phone.”
“I told him, ‘Hold him, I’m going to cry.'” I knew they were so close, so it was really difficult for me to tell him. He simply passed out in the motel room as John was holding him.
“I was wrong to send him. I should have told him right immediately, but I felt that I would protect him. Now I regret it. I don’t think Ronnie ever got over the fact that I did it incorrectly. One thing I regret is that I didn’t want him to suffer harm.”
