NewIdea
  • Royals
  • Celebrity
  • News
  • Beauty & Style
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Travel
  • Home & Away
  • Podcasts
  • Win
  • Video
NewIdea
  • Royals
  • Celebrity
  • News
  • Beauty & Style
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Travel
  • Home & Away
  • Podcasts
  • Win
  • Video
Subscribe
Home and Away opening title
Watch 1:09

Home and Away opening title

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS Sarah: My amazing night of sex with Telv

MAFS: Exciting news for Sarah and Telv

MAFS Sarah celebrates split with Telv in eye-popping PVC dress

MAFS: Telv storms out on Sarah

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS phone messages leaked: How we were all scammed by the show

MAFS shock: Sarah tells Telv: 'Get out, it's over!'

MAFS shock: Sarah and Telv reveal the truth about their split

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS Ashley Irvin claims she never slept with Justin Fischer

MAFS Davina: Meet my new man!

MAFS Tracey publicly shames Dean

Report: MAFS Telv 'snorts white powder off stripper's bottom'

MAFS Tracey's shock announcement

MAFS: Davina Rankin returns to social media with heart-wrenching message

MAFS: Ashley Irvin breaks her silence on whether Troy Delmege is a virgin

  1. Home
  2. Married At First Sight

Married At First Sight's Telv Williams reveals his traumatic childhood

Telv looks back on the trials that shaped him into the man he is today. - by WHO Team
  • 08 Mar 2018

Living in a housing commission flat in Melbourne's Preston with his older brother and their mum, Tracey, the future for young Telv Williams seemed bleak.

'It was this concrete jungle flat and coming home from school as you walked up the stairs you’ve got a junkie with a needle hanging out, an alcoholic in the hallway spewing everywhere, that’s the surroundings you had to put up with,' Telv, 33, tells WHO.

Tracey, who was just 15 when she had her first son and 17 when Telv arrived, was struggling with severe alcoholism as well as a series of abusive relationships with the men who came into their lives. Telv wouldn’t meet his own dad until he was 22. It was the only time the two have come face to face.

'She was a confused young kid who obviously found alcohol as an outlet,' says Telv. 'And she had some pretty bad choices when it came to boyfriends'—one of whom beat her so badly that a then-6-year-old Telv was injured trying to intervene. 'I jumped on his back to try and stop him—he just grabbed me and threw me through the window,' the FIFO worker recalls. 'It was pretty hard growing up, and we didn’t have a lot of money either. But we always had love.' 

As 'a ratbag of a kid,' Telv says he could easily have entered a similar cycle of abuse and addiction. But as he turned 12, salvation came in the shape of some much-needed positive male role models. First, Tracey met his stepdad Russell, 'the father figure I always needed.' She found religion, gave up drinking and the family moved to Portland in country Victoria. At high school he met teachers who 'really took the time to help me out,' introducing him to sports as a way of getting out his aggression: 'It helps with discipline, which was something I lacked as a kid.'

Now, as a father-of-two and 'proud Aboriginal man,' family remains his No. 1 priority, and should things work out with TV wife Sarah Roza (left), 'I’d have more kids, I definitely would have more,' he says.

This article originally appeared on WHO. 

  • Celebrity
  • News
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Love And Relationships
  • TV
  • Married At First Sight

Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!-SAVE 79%

Subscribe to New Idea today

Subscribe Now
Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!

Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!-SAVE 79%

Subscribe to New Idea today

Subscribe Now
Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!

Recommended to you

Home and Away opening title
Watch 1:09

Home and Away opening title

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS Sarah: My amazing night of sex with Telv

MAFS: Exciting news for Sarah and Telv

MAFS Sarah celebrates split with Telv in eye-popping PVC dress

MAFS: Telv storms out on Sarah

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS phone messages leaked: How we were all scammed by the show

MAFS shock: Sarah tells Telv: 'Get out, it's over!'

MAFS shock: Sarah and Telv reveal the truth about their split

{headline}

{headline}

MAFS Ashley Irvin claims she never slept with Justin Fischer

MAFS Davina: Meet my new man!

MAFS Tracey publicly shames Dean

Report: MAFS Telv 'snorts white powder off stripper's bottom'

MAFS Tracey's shock announcement

MAFS: Davina Rankin returns to social media with heart-wrenching message

MAFS: Ashley Irvin breaks her silence on whether Troy Delmege is a virgin

NewIdea
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Competitions
NewIdea Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Competitions

Brands

  • Girlfriend
  • New Idea food
  • Practical Parenting
  • That’s Life
  • Who

Our Network

  • Better Homes and Gardens
  • BHG Shop
  • marie claire
  • Beauty Crew
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • Home Beautiful
  • All Recipes
  • Perth Now
  • The West Australian
  • 7Plus
  • Airtasker
  • 7NEWS
  • SocietyOne
  • Health Engine
  • Starts at 60
© 2021 Are Media PTY LTD
Get more from New Idea

Magazine Subscription Offer

Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!-SAVE 79%

Shop This Offer
Just $6 for 6 issues delivered!