Boxing champion Amir Khan has blamed the breakdown of his marriage to Faryal Makhdoom on his hand injury and “lack of communication”.
The couple, who rekindled their relationship in November after an explosive Twitter feud, vowed never to repeat their mistakes and insisted that they’ve now “learnt” from them.
The former I’m A Celebrity campmate and his pregnant wife spoke candidly about their marital problems on a TV show, with Amir fully taking the blame for the split.
The 30-year-old said: “I had my hand injury. I was wrecking my marriage, I wasn’t boxing. Going through the hand injury that I had, not being in the boxing ring, being away from my family, going through a lot of stuff in my life, I think the best place for me is to be in the boxing ring.”
The boxing champion blamed his hand injury for giving him “too much time to think”.
Khan said: “When I was away from that, it took me all over the place. I lost that focus and that structure. Not being in the gym, not training, when you have all that downtime you have all that energy in your body.”
“What went wrong was a lack of communication. The way it went public wasn’t nice. I think anger sometimes takes over. We want to make sure all that’s put behind us.”
Makhdoom added: “It was just a misunderstanding. I was in England he was in Dubai, he thought he was a bit cool in Dubai doing some tweets.”
Khan divulged how his faith helped him get through the trying time and gave him perspective. “I came to a stage where I didn’t know what to do in my life – I started praying. That’s one of the (things that) put me on the right path,” he said.
“Hopefully going into 2018 we’ve both put that behind us, we’ve got a lovely baby coming this year, we have also have Lamaisah our daughter, my boxing career, (I will) get some good fights in.”
Model Makhdoom, 26, who is now expecting her and Amir’s second child, opened up about her pregnancy also. “I’m six months along. I’m feeling okay. My first child was easier. This pregnancy was tougher. I have a pelvic problem, it’s called pubic dysfunction,” she said.
“[Amir] helps me get up, I feel like an old lady. This bump isn’t big though.”
Khan is seen spending a lot of time with his family and daughter Lamaisah post his stint at I’m a Celebrity.