Jon Walters still gets emotional every time he hears Amhrán na bhFiann because of his mother, Helen Brady.
When Jon Walters was just 11 years old, his Mom passed away of cancer. He has opened up before about how much she has shaped his personal and professional life.
Brady was from Dublin and often brought the family over to County Louth. As a child, he spent many summers in the Wee County with uncle Jimmy Brady and his family.
Although he was born in Moreton, England, Walters decided at a very early age that he would play in the green jersey. In 2017, he told The Times that when his mother died, he promised he would play for the Republic of Ireland.
For Helen.
Top-class interview from Walters. Unflinchingly honesthttps://t.co/3ALHyEHH29
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 19, 2017
Recently, Walters gave an incredibly powerful interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on dealing with grief at such a young age. Presenter Tony Livesesy’s could relate to Walters’ case, as his Mum died when he was only 13.
This was one of the rare times Walters got to open up on the topic in such a public forum, admitting that no one ever asks him about it. He didn’t hold back in the unflinchingly honest discussion.
He talked about ‘locking away’ the pain and ‘building a wall’ from the day his mother died. Although he often got upset, he believes he never really went through the proper grieving process.
You can check out a snippet of the interview in the video embedded below.
‘I put up a wall and locked it away’@BurnleyOfficial forward @JonWalters19 opens up about the death of his mother when he was just 11-years-old
Full interview: https://t.co/EZVUyieiCA pic.twitter.com/ighQ66mmKy
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) March 8, 2018
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