Marco Pierre White Jr, 28, has turned to Islam to aid his battle against drug abuse following his prison sentence. He was jailed for 11 months with 32 weeks of a previously suspended jail term to run consecutively, for a total of 14 different offences.
The Celebrity Big Brother star, who appeared in the Channel 4 reality series in 2016, had already made several attempts to stay clean from drugs.
But in a new interview, Marco revealed he has found a new beacon of hope in religion.
He said: “More than £1million has been wasted because of my addictions.
“But Islam has helped me get through everything,” the TV star added to MailOnline.
He continued: “I have been in rehab 17 times and being in prison has made me realise that enough is enough.
“I have been in rehab all over America and in the UK and the only thing that has cured me is being banged up in a cell for 23 hours a day.”
Explaining his reason for choosing Islam, Marco detailed how his interest in the Koran first “grew”.
He said: “In prison I saw the lads going to pray. I would listen to them talking about the Islamic community and the Koran and I thought a lot of it made sense.
“I had a flick through the Koran and my interest grew.”
Marco was jailed in August for 18 months following a string of shop thefts and racially abusing a Tesco security guard.
The former reality TV contestant pleaded guilty to 14 offences of shoplifting, one count of possessing a knife, one count of possessing heroin and a racially aggravated public order offence.
The court heard the last theft was committed in April and the first theft happened in January 2021.
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Speaking to The Times, Marco Snr said his son is now clean of drugs and is due to be released from prison later this year.
He told the publication: “He’s kicked the drugs and he’s out soon.
“We speak four times a day, but I don’t visit because he says I’m too recognisable.
“To be honest, I blame the authorities – they should have clamped down and given him a sharp dose of reality earlier.”
He added: “A slapped wrist doesn’t help anyone. A sharp shock when the trouble begins – that’s how a boy matures.”
The popular chef has three children, his sons Marco, and Luciano, 34, and daughter Mirabelle, 21, with his third wife Matilde Conejero, and daughter Letitia, 33, from his first marriage to Alex McArthur.
At the time of Pierre Jnr’s sentencing, the court was told he had a privileged start in life and a good upbringing with his family, but he struggled with heroin addiction since he was 18.
The judge Mark Horton said: “It is addiction that causes intelligent people, from good backgrounds, who had every prospect, to cheat, lie and steal on a regular basis with a complete incapacity to stop doing so.”
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