Layne Beachley has revealed that her father Neil has been diagnosed with dementia.
The legendary surfer, 51, revealed the heartbreaking family news on her Instagram page this month.
Alongside a photo of her and Neil smiling at the camera, Layne wrote: “My dear dad is battling dementia but still has the ability to smile, laugh and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
“As a family we kept him in his familiar environment for as long as possible until we removed him from his home in Manly late last year, which quickly affected his memory.”
Beachley added that she had recently taken her father to visit the Manly Life Saving Club, of which she had been a member all her life, and was overwhelmed to see a crowd turn out to support him.
Layne Beachley has revealed that her father Neil has been diagnosed with dementia. The legendary surfer, 51, revealed her heartbreaking family news on her Instagram page this month.
The Sydney-born athlete told this week’s New Idea magazine that her husband, rock star Kirk Pengilly, 65, was helping her through this difficult time.
In 2020, Beachley opened up about how being adopted propelled her to win seven world championship titles.
When she was just eight years old, the man Beachley thought was her biological father broke the news to her that she was not related by blood and was put up for adoption as a baby.
Her biological mother was a 17-year-old aspiring model, living in Sydney from Glasgow, who was raped by a modeling agency employee.
Appearing on ABC’s Anh’s Brush With Fame, Beachley said hearing the news just a year after her adoptive mother’s death made her feel “worthless.”
‘The more he talked and the more comforting he was, the bigger the sofa became and the more it swallowed me up. I started to feel useless,” said the surfing champion.
The Sydney-born athlete told this week’s New Idea magazine that her husband, rock star Kirk Pengilly, 65, was helping her through this difficult time.
In 2020, Beachley opened up about how being adopted propelled her to win seven world championship titles.
“Being rejected by your own mother… you just feel, ‘Wait, I didn’t deserve my own mother’s love, who do I deserve?'”
Beachley, who began surfing on Sydney’s northern beaches, made a pact with herself that day to become a world champion and set her sights on professional surfing.
She later married INXS saxophonist Kirk Pengilly in October 2010, and credits him with helping her through difficult times.
The couple first met at Sydney’s Dee Why on the northern beaches 20 years ago after promising mutual friend Jon Stevens they would go on a date.