Boris Becker has spoken for the first time since leaving prison in the UK, telling viewers he was a nobody there.
Becker spent 231 days in prison after being jailed in April for two-and-a-half years for concealing £2.5m of assets to avoid paying debts after he had been declared bankrupt.
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He admitted that food portions were too small and violence was high in London’s Wandsworth prison, but has now been released and set to return to Germany.
Now, in an interview with German broadcaster Sat 1, he has revealed what life was like in prison as he was released from there.
“In prison you are a nobody. You are only a number. Mine was A2923EV. I wasn’t called Boris, I was a number. And nobody gives a shit who you are,” Becker said.
Looking visibly slimmer having lost weight and changed his hair colour, he continued to describe life in prison and his joy on the day he was released.
“I believe I rediscovered the human in me, the person I once was,” he told the interviewer Steven Gätjen. “I’ve learnt a hard lesson. A very expensive one. A very painful one. But the whole thing has taught me something very important and worthwhile. And some things happen for a good reason.”
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About the day he was released: “From six o’clock that morning I sat on the edge of my bed, and hoped that the cell door would open. They came to get me at 7.30 a.m., unlocked the door and asked: ‘Are you ready?’ I said: ‘Let’s go!’ I had already packed everything beforehand.”
It was previously reported by German outlet Bild that Becker used to train to keep fit while in prison and used to help with the other inmates’ fitness, working with an assistant in his time there.
