At Home With The Furys: Tyson and Paris Fury talk retirement, mental health and fame ahead of new Netflix documentary

Morecambe’s Tyson Fury, 34, is best known as the triumphant Gypsy King, gleefully celebrating wins in a boxing ring whilst his tight-lipped Gypsy Queen, Paris, watches on from the sidelines, but his new Netflix series offers another perspective on the world of the heavyweight champion.

At Home With The Furys, which will air on Netflix on Wednesday, August 16, sees Tyson stripped of the ring and gloves, and instead at home in his Morecambe mansion.

Attempting to navigate retirement, he is surrounded by six kids (a seventh on the way) and Paris, whilst his dad, John, lives in a caravan on the land and his younger brother Tommy and partner Molly-Mae Hague, of Love Island fame, make regular appearances.

His opening line embodies the heart of the series: “I’ve gone from topping the bill at Wembley, [in front of] 94,000, to picking up dog s*** on a run.”

Now ahead of the show’s airing, Tyson and Paris have discussed more about their life in an interview with PA’s Jessica Rawnsley...

Retirement

With PA first asking why they are doing the show now, Tyson replied: “I retired after the Dillian Whyte fight, 2022, and I had a lot of spare time on my hands.

"And I thought, you know what, I’m not doing anything else. This is gonna be fantastic to keep my mind occupied.”

Elaborating on his reasons for retirement, Tyson said: “With boxing, it’s a very dangerous sport if you allow it to get the better of you… I’ve been taking punches to the head and body for over 20 years. I’ve achieved everything. I’ve made a ton of money. I’ve achieved all the bouts there is to win. I’ve done more than I ever thought was possible in the sports game. I don’t really have anything else to prove.”

He explains to PA that’s why he walked out following his Wembley appearance – which outsold Ed Sheeran and Adele – adding “I walked away undefeated, on top of the world, all brains and a bank full of cash. It’s always good to retire on top.”

Despite his retirement plans, Tyson has now backtracked, admitting “I’ve been retired and come back more times than a boomerang.”

Now that he’s back again, he told PA it’s down to being sick of getting under Paris’s feet and having nothing to do all day bar waiting for the kids to return from school “like Forrest Gump”.

Paris interjected: “It wasn’t just that though, you could see a mile off that your mental health was dipping because you didn’t have a focus, you didn’t have a purpose.”

Mental Health

Fury first opened up about his mental health – he has bipolar disorder, ADHD and depression – a couple of years ago and the series sees him and Paris grappling with this in real time.

Tyson told PA: “I’m always talking about the mental health struggle… I want it to be very evident in this show that even me, world heavyweight champion, as tough as I am, can be brought down to my knees with mental health on a daily basis. I think the more I talk about it, the more people can be helped around the world or maybe save a life or whatever. So yeah, that’s why we did it.”

Paris and Tyson have been together since meeting at school aged 15, and when asked where he would be without her, Tyson answered: “I’d be dead probably.”

Paris, 33, added: “I think for every sufferer there’s somebody behind them trying to help them, and sometimes it’s tiring, and sometimes it’s annoying – even to have to use that word. But for us, once Tyson was diagnosed, I think it really helped because you started to realise there’s a reason this person is pushing you away… It’s not a personal vendetta against me as a partner. And I think it’s good for people to see this and understand this is what we do. This is how we roll with Tyson’s mental health issues.”

The show is competely honest about the family’s struggles with the deal they struck with Netflix being “no-holds barred”, meaning there were no off-limit rooms and no scripted scenes, for instance Tyson refused to repeat off-the-cuff comments.

The camera crew woke them up every morning ringing the doorbell and were still around when they put the kids to bed.

Fame

Tyson spoke upfront to PA about the downsides of fame, admitting the family will probably have to move again after the series, like they did after their ITV documentary.

He explained: “I had to move because loads of people kept turning up to the house, ringing the intercom at four in the morning.

“What people don’t understand is being famous sucks. It’s not a pleasurable thing to be absolutely tortured when you go to the shop for a Greggs sandwich. It’s not great to be bombarded when you’re trying to get a pair of trainers out of a sports shop. It’s not when you’re going out with your family on a day out and you don’t get any time and you just got people hanging all over you. Or that you’re out with your wife on a date night and don’t want to speak to a million people.”

Paris added: “The problem with us is we still believe we’re normal. We still want to believe that we’re just Tyson and Paris.”

“Yeah, everyday people,” replied Tyson. “We’re living in Morecambe. We’re not fancy people. We’re just doing normal stuff, go to normal places, and we’ve only been shopping in Aldi this morning. Everyone’s like, ‘What are you doing in Aldi?’ and I’m like, ‘Well, it’s a shop that sells food’.”

The dichotomy

The Tyson dichotomy lies within the fact he is so normal and yet so unique.

Whilst the Fury’s are grounded in their humble upbringings and traveller roots, describing Morecambe as the most beautiful place in the world, Tyson told PA: “There’s many other reality TV shows, but there’s only one Tyson Fury and there will only ever be one Tyson Fury and that’s a fact.

“One crazy, bald, fat man that nobody can ever compete with. There’s only one person like that. And then there’s Paris and all the six kids, the dog… TV gold. I just don’t think anything can compete with it. And we’ll find out anyway because if it doesn’t go to number one on Netflix I’ll be absolutely boiling.”