Idris Elba’s mother was less than impressed with his decision to try his hand at kickboxing.
The 44-year-old actor spent months training to become a fighter for a new TV documentary, but Idris’ mother Eve was petrified at the the thought of her son suffering a serious injury.
The London-born star shared: "She was really worried. She came to my first amateur fight and it was pretty harrowing for her. I had quite a lot of friends and family there and they couldn’t believe what I was doing.
"I drew that fight, but I got knocked down in the third round by a pretty brutal uppercut. But my mum was the only one of my family who was like, ‘This is silly’.
"In between rounds, when it was quiet, I heard my mum saying, ‘Drink some water, don’t let him kick you in the head, what are you doing this for? Do you need your asthma inhaler?’
"I was like, ‘Mum, please be quiet’."
The documentary, ‘Idris Elba: Fighter’, follows the actor as he trains for the unforgiving world of professional kickboxing.
The ‘Luther’ star – who has a 15-year-old daughter called Isan with his ex-wife Kim Norgaard and a two-year-old son called Winston with his on-off girlfriend Naiyana Garth – admitted he would be willing to allow his children to try their hand at kickboxing.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "My daughter was very into it and my son came out to Thailand when we trained there and he’s in the film. I encourage my kids to be adventurous and to try things.
"But, to be fair, my family were very worried about me and I don’t think I’d want to put them through that again. I remember the looks on their faces when they saw me go down, it was painful."
Idris Elba reveals his mother’s kickboxing fears
