- Surfing legend won three world titles in decorated career
- Mick Fanning has also mourned the death of three older brothers
- In 2015, he survived a shark attack in South Africa.
Mick Fanning is a three-time world surfing champion and a revered figure in the sport, but his life outside the ocean has been affected by repeated family tragedies.
The recent Sports Australia Hall of Fame inductee, 43, is the youngest of four brothers.
Inexplicably, the Gold Coast local has mourned the deaths of his older brothers Sean, Peter and Ed, dating back to 1998.
Sean died in a car crash on his way home from a party in Coolangatta when he was just 20, and then Peter, 43, died in his sleep in 2015, due to complications from an enlarged heart.
Ed, 48, died earlier this year when a wound became infected in Madagascar, where he worked as a surf instructor.
He also suffered heart complications and died in hospital.
“Life hits you with a sledgehammer from time to time,” Fanning told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘It takes time to process it. It takes time to heal. “It’s definitely a journey.”
Mick Fanning is a three-time world surfing champion, but his life outside the ocean has been affected by repeated family tragedies (pictured, with his partner Breeana)
Fanning (right), the youngest of four children, has mourned the deaths of his three older brothers.
Fanning is also aware that he cheated death following an encounter with a great white shark in Jeffreys Bay in South Africa in 2015 (pictured).
Ed Fanning (pictured left) lived and worked at a surf camp in Madagascar before he died in March from heart complications.
Mick Fanning stated that he “felt like he had nothing to give” after losing his brother Peter in 2015.
The Penrith-raised star, who moved to the Glitter Strip at the age of 12, is grateful to have her partner Breeana Randall, plus her two children, Xander and baby Lyla, in her corner.
Its constant presence helps prevent “life from getting really dark” for the natural footer.
Fanning is also aware that he cheated death after an encounter with a great white shark in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, in 2015.
He is asked virtually every day about the incident, in which he frantically punched the shark while survival mode was activated.
The epic party that followed the J-Bay Open final (mainly celebrating the fact that Fanning was alive) actually felt more like a wake.
‘It was so raw. “Not just for me, but for everyone who was on the beach that day,” Fanning recalled.
‘Surfing is a giant family, so that’s what it was. We almost lost one of the family.
“I felt like I was at my own wake because one minute everyone was laughing and the next minute everyone was crying. “It was a very special moment, but also very strange.”