Violent gang life once saw me hit so hard I lost my sight, now I get celebs into shape

IF he’d been asked a decade ago where he’d be by now, Tyrone Brennand would have answered in prison or dead.

Instead, he’s a personal trainer to a host of celebrity clients including Lottie Moss and Game Of Thrones Nathalie Emmanual after turning his life around.

Tyrone, who runs Be The Fittest, admits that his troubled upbringing saw him flirt with gang violence.

But in an exclusive interview ahead of his new book, he reveals that many of his glamorous clients have no idea about his dark past.

He says: “I've never really spoken about it to the media or any of my clients.

"Some know I come from quite a hard background but they don't know the ins and outs because this is quite an intimate personal relationship that you have.

“When I first started, I would never in a million years let people know that I came from because they let me into their house and I might see some of their families or so forth.

“It was tricky until I started building the trust to a place where I was a person that is quite established in fitness.”

The 35-year-old regularly whips famous faces into shape including Mollie King, Made In Chelsea’s Binky Felstead and Maya Jama.

Like countless other young men Tyrone, who goes by Ty, grew up without a father and was pulled into a life of violence after he dropped out of education.

He explained: “I didn't really have anyone who was inspirational, a role model I could look up to.

"I had no opportunities and I started looking to people who are doing the wrong things in life, as role models and hanging around the wrong people.

"I got myself into situations where I was in very dark places. I was getting in trouble, everywhere with the police. I had no communication really with my family.”

His dangerous lifestyle saw him caught in violent brawls and at one point he almost lost his ability to see after a fight.

Ty said: “I was only about 16, maybe even 15, and I was punched in the face so hard that I could not see out my eye. I was gone. I couldn't see anything.

“They had to send me straight to the hospital and hospital sent me straight to Marylebone eye hospital because it was so damaged.

“My eye wasn't reacting to light Like, and they didn't know how the vision was going to be. “The swelling was too much for them to see at that time, what was really happening.”

Luckily his eye recovered and he has no problems with his vision but it was enough to force Ty to re-evaluate his choices in life.

On top of that, his girlfriend Gemma revealed she was expecting their child and gave him an ultimatum: clean up or get out.

"If I hadn't turned my life around I'd be dead or in jail"

Ty, now a dad-of-three, said: “I was in a dark place, I had no hope at all. But I always knew that I didn't want to be afraid. I didn't want to be in a flop in life. I wanted to be successful.

“I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to be a person that was able to make money in the right way and doing the right thing, and being a good person.”

“I'd to sneak into gyms at night because I couldn’t afford to pay to go."

Ty signed up to the Prince’s Trust which allowed him to invest in a personal training qualification and eventually starting his own business.

He said: “I used to train all the time to help me get away from the stresses and some of the people that I was surrounded with.

“I'd to sneak into gyms at night because I couldn’t afford to pay to go.

“I realised, I need to use it as a way out, and a way for me to help me change my life.

“I went through the Prince's Trust to start a business in fitness.

"I didn't really know if I wanted to do personal training, but family and friends encouraged me to use my fitness passion to do become a PT as they knew I’d be good at motivating others.”

He continued: “I know that if I hadn't turned my life around I'd be dead or in jail – my missus told me that.”

Ty combines traditional HIIT workouts with yoga to help his clients achieve their goals – be it shaping up for Strictly Come Dancing like Mollie King or losing baby weight like Binky Felstead.

And it’s not just famous faces who are attracted to his workouts – but pals from his days on the streets.

He said: “When people see me from back then they say 'Ty we've seen how you've changed and it's inspirational.' They show a lot of respect for it.

“They don't even tease me for doing yoga which they would have done back in the day. My friends now want to come and do yoga with me.”

But sadly, not everyone he grew up with is around to celebrate his success.

He added: “A lot of people I know from when I was younger are dead or in jail. It’s really sad, like me they weren’t given hope but it went a different way.

“I want young people with difficult lives to know it is possible to turn their lives around. I’ve done it so there is no reason they can’t.”

• Be the Fittest by Tyrone Brennand (Quadrille, £15) is out today.

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