to work with Elle McPherson in making the pilot for The Body video. It was another massive turning point. "I started training celebrities and went from strength to strength." Nevertheless, his violent
Elle Macpherson
become a professional boxer and was about to sign a contract at the age of 18, when a severe accident meant that he technically died from loss of blood. The next few years were a struggle. Realising he couldn't have the
physical lifestyle he had expected, he decided to learn to do something that was seriously lacking from his chaotic childhood: how to read and write. He gained qualifi cations to become a fi tness trainer, brought himself back to fi tness and became the fi rst personal trainer in the City of London. Whilst working in this role he was asked by a fi lm company
background came back to haunt him. He was arrested for Grievous Bodily Harm when he was attacked by fi ve men while working as a doorman. "I had to wait a year and a half
to go to Crown Court, and all I could hear was the people who'd brought me up in children's homes saying to me you're a low-life Irish scumbag and the only place you're gonna end up is in prison." Paul was acquitted when the judge
directed the jury to fi nd that he was acting in self defence, but that moment was terrifying for him. He recalls how his "legs went to jelly" standing in the dock. "It would have been the end of my life, going to prison," he adds, in all seriousness. Then came another of those big turning points in his life. The visit from two police offi cers who told him that he and one other, out of his entire dormitory at St Leonard's were the only two left alive. The rest had all committed suicide in different ways and the other survivor was serving a double life sentence. To his dismay, three of his abusers got
These were the first sort of serious role models that I found weren't trying to ... beat me up
very light sentences due to a mistake made by the Crown Prosecution Service. It was in the memory of his dead dorm-mates that he decided to kill them himself. He got very close to doing it indeed. He bought a gun and followed two of them to a pub, but just at the last minute backed out.
"There must have been a scrap of decency left in me," he says, before adding: "...if
I’d have done it... I wouldn’t be here; I’d still be in prison, I’d be in prison for a long, long time." So why did he back out? "Because I had people around me who were saying to me you’re gonna end your life and then what kind of revenge is that? "That’s no revenge; your life is over, your
revenge should be to go on and have a happy family and to be a successful man and prove these people wrong." In the end, that is the choice Paul made.
He went on to train A-List celebrities like Elle Macpherson in Hollywood and has now written a chart-topping book telling his remarkable story which has been optioned for a movie - all the way from being thrown out with the rubbish to his rise to success. It's a story to put the heart into anyone
who is struggling with life. You can watch a longer interview with Paul here - and watch out for the full length interview, soon to be screened on The Best TV. b
Paul Connolly At A Glance
Thrown out with the rubbish when two weeks old
Abuse in orphanage Learned to box Pronounced technically dead Learned to read at 25 UK's first personal trainer Trained Elle Macpherson Nearly killed his abusers Wrote a chart-topping book His story considered for a movie