Millionaire martial artist comes face-to-face with former school bully

Matt Fiddes says bullying led him to develop interest in martial arts where he made his millions

Matt meets his former bully Anthony after becoming a multi-millionaire (This Morning/ITV)

A man who was bullied at primary school and went on to become a multi-millionaire martial arts expert has been reunited with his tormenter 30 years later.

Matt Fiddes said being picked on at school led him to take up martial arts and eventually to his working for a decade as a bodyguard to Michael Jackson.

Mr Fiddes was reunited with his former bully Anthony, who teased him for two years from the age of five, on ITV's This Morning programme.

The ex-bully, Anthony, commented that meeting Mr Fiddes again was awkward but there was no animosity between the pair.

Speaking to presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield, he said the bullying “started a fire in him”, and he developed an interest in martial arts as a way of coping with the torment.

After becoming a bodyguard for pop superstar Jackson, he set up a string of martial arts schools and developed a programme which he said has “saved a million children from bullying”.

The former bully, Anthony, joined Mr Fiddes on the sofa as the now multimillionaire said: “He's a real man for doing this.”

Anthony said he could not remember a lot from when they were at school together but said: “It was all five-year-old stuff, pushing him in the queue for the milk.

“I was overwhelmed about what Matt had said about me, to be honest.”