Former England footballer and Gladiators host John Fashanu has insisted he is fighting fit and has not been laid low by a mystery condition – sparking a fresh war of words with his daughter Amal.
Furious Fashanu hit back after Amal, 37, revealed she had hoped her father would play a key role in a lavish wedding celebration planned for next year after the pair had previously fallen out over business matters.
Amal, a TV presenter and entrepreneur, claimed she had patched things up with her father following concerns over his health which she believed could have been connected to him heading thousands of balls during his 17 years at the top of the professional game.
But Fashanu, 63, has now spoken out to reassure fans he has not suffered injuries from heading footballs.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I want to make it abundantly clear that I am totally disappointed in my daughter Amal.
‘It is totally false for her to suggest that my health is declining or that I have a mysterious condition, potentially arising from heading the ball during my footballing career.
‘I have no mysterious condition at all.’
Fashanu – known as Fash the Bash in his playing days – said he had been under stress following legal battles over land he owns in Nigeria, where he now lives with third wife Vivian, with whom he is happily married.
John Fashanu reacted angrily to an interview that his daughter Amal conducted in which she said that although they pair had fallen out, they had reconciled and she claimed he had been ill
Amal said that her father had been laid low with a mystery illness that she put down to him heading footballs during his 17 year professional career. She said that although he lived in Nigeria, she wanted him to move to England where he could get better care. But John said he was fine and not suffering any mystery condition – and Amal had no right to speak on his behalf
The former footballer has been busy working on a number of projects including writing his autobiography, charity fundraising, working on legal reform on a number of issues as well as assisting foster care children.
Fashanu hired academic researchers and is working with lawyers to assess the legal system in the UK and Nigeria, identifying the failings and weaknesses in the foster care system.
He is working with professionals including social workers to pinpoint gaps that exist in child protection systems.
Referring to his workload with various projects and the fallout with Amal, he said: ‘I lost a fair bit of weight in the past year because I, for a while, battled hard to shake off a lot of emotional distress arising from two legal suits I lodged in relation to my land in Nigeria, and the ongoing battle to sell my land related to the suit.
‘The situation was, for a while, traumatising for me and I often lost my appetite due to that. But loss of weight does not mean my health is deteriorating.’
Amal had claimed she had become a big part in her father’s life again and had been regularly flying to Abuja in Nigeria to help manage his affairs.
But Fashanu disputes this and says she hasn’t made regular trips to see him – and that she visited him for the first time in Nigeria a month ago with her new husband, whom he’d never met before.
Fashanu said: ‘Amal tried to be supportive in some ways, but does not manage my affairs.
‘I have a trusted management team from the UK in place that work closely with my wife and lawyers in Nigeria, particularly in the past seven months or so, in relation to my legal suits.
‘I was forced to take an interest in understanding the legal system more, despite having multiple lawyers assisting my legal suits, and have recently been working on a number of projects close to my heart.
‘My body and mind are both functioning well, it was a terrible insult for my daughter to publicly suggest otherwise.’
Fashanu says he has for the past few months been working on his autobiography with a UK writer. He will be telling his life story from his own perspective, he says – making time each weekend to write small sections of it.
Amal told how she had fallen out with her father in 2023 and had not spoken to him for nearly two years after she claimed he signed up to star in ITV’s Dancing on Ice behind her back at a time when she claimed she was acting as his agent.
But Fashanu said: ‘Amal has never been my agent, and does not speak for me.’
Amal had revealed how she is planning a lavish wedding celebration held over three days and spanning two continents.
Earlier this month she formally tied the knot with Ghanaian tycoon Mohamad Odaymat, who owns a pharmaceutical business, and is a member of one of the country’s most influential billionaires families.
They had a simple courthouse ceremony in front of four witnesses but are planning the ‘main event’ next year which she hopes will be a spectacular celebration of their families’ cultures.
Fashanu pictured with his daughter Amal says he is ‘heartbroken’ that his daughter spoke on his behalf and that she made a number of claims about his life that he says are not correct
Amal said more than 600 guests will be invited to their celebrations – which she planned to hold in Nigeria and Spain – which is home to her mother, former model Marisol Acuna Duenas.
Amal said of the glitzy event: ‘We’re looking at maybe 600 people for the wedding. Part one will be in Lagos. We’ll fly there first and have a traditional Nigerian wedding and then we’ll have a traditional Spanish one in Madrid after.
‘We’ll have a big wedding over three days.
‘I’m hoping both my mum and my dad will be at both. We’re looking into hiring a jet so we can move everybody from one place to another and they won’t need to financially burden themselves.’
But Fashanu said he knew nothing of the big celebrations saying: ‘In fact, my daughter visited me for the first time in Nigeria two weeks ago with her husband whom she introduced to me for the first time too!
‘Nobody would believe that she told me nothing about this glitzy wedding of hers next year. All she told me was that she was married to him already, although never invited me to the occasion. ‘
Fashanu dismissed any suggestion that he was no longer with his wife saying: ‘I have also only ever been married three times, not five as stated in last week’s Daily Mail article.
‘The article went further to state that I am not with my current wife, which was insulting.
‘I am currently with my third wife Vivian, whom I love dearly.
‘I have good reason to believe Amal still feels hurt that I never married her mother, and I understand how complicated the psychology and emotions of these things can be on children, especially coming from a foster home myself.
‘They can sometimes be painful and lead to voids needing to be filled and maybe even the seeking of attention in ways that can be damaging and self sabotaging.
‘I take responsibility for not staying in that relationship, but I was a young footballer having fun at the time, and it was not a full blown relationship.
‘Her mother was a pretty girl with a good personality. But I was in my prime then, and I now know from personal experience the effect it can have on children.’
Fashanu added: ‘I still love her because she is my daughter, and I am heartbroken it has had to come to this.
‘It took a lot of hard thinking for days before I decided to expose this openly.
‘On the one hand, I had people urging me to counter the claims publicly, and also some telling me to ignore it, even from my team.
‘It was a very difficult and hurtful choice, but had to be done to correct the damage.’
Amal – who divides her time between the UK and Ghana and has a home in west London – has recently set up a trendy matcha concept store in Accra, the capital of the west African country.
Amal is gearing up to open a second cafe and store selling the Japanese tea in Abuja – Nigeria’s administrative and political capital where her father lives.
She spoke of her plans to open up a health and wellness clinic and hoped her father would open a football academy attached to it.
But Fashanu said: ‘I will not be pursuing any joint venture with Amal in relation to a wellness clinic or footballing academy in Ghana and don’t recall her ever bringing that up with me.
‘I may have well considered it, had it been raised, although I have a busy football academy already going on.
‘I hope my daughter and I can eventually get past this painful and horrible time because at the end of the day, she is my daughter, but I need to keep some distance at this time.’
The centre forward began his career at Norwich City before going on to have an eight-year spell with Wimbledon – scoring more than 100 league goals in 276 appearances.
The 6ft1in tall striker helped the club to promotion to the top tier of football for the first time in their history and a memorable FA Cup final triumph over Liverpool in 1988.
His performances, playing alongside fellow ‘Crazy Gang’ stars Vinnie Jones and Dennis Wise, led to him winning two England caps.
Amal, who has also launched a singing career, is the founder of The Justin Fashanu Foundation, set up in her uncle’s name to fight prejudice in professional sport and promote mental health awareness.
Amal said she was pursuing a number of business ventures with her father including a wellness centre, but Fashanu says that this is incorrect – and he has no financial plans with her
Justin, the first openly gay professional footballer, was found hanged at a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into in Shoreditch, east London, at the age of 37 in May 1998.
Amal was aged just nine and was one of the last people to see him alive after he had visited the family home the previous night, promising to take her to visit Sir Elton John, who was a friend, at his studio the next day.
Amal said: ‘I would like in my wedding to do something in memory of Justin, maybe to set off some white doves. I would have loved him to have been there.’
Amal was contacted for comment regarding her father’s response to her initial interview.
