Jake Paul Says Therapy Helped Him Move Beyond Parental Abuse

Jake Paul opened up about forgiving his father for past mental and physical abuse after years of therapy .

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of his much-publicized boxing match against Mike Tyson , Paul revealed that his parents went through an “ugly” divorce when he was seven and his brother, Logan , was nine. While the brothers were rising to fame through their YouTube presence, their parents were weaponizing their children against one another. “It was rocky in the beginning—really, really rocky,” the boys’ mother, Pam, admitted to the outlet.

“As far back as I can remember, my dad was always pitting Jake and I against each other in terms of who could run faster, who could score more touchdowns, who could get higher grades,” Logan said.

“There was mental manipulation and my mom trying to get me on her side, my dad trying to get me on his side,” Jake explained. “All these games and madness and just psychological craziness.”

But it wasn’t until Jake entered therapy in his 20s that he began to reconcile the years of physical abuse he suffered on behalf of his father. “He was punching us, slapping us, throwing us down the stairs, throwing things at us, mental abuse, manipulation,” Jake said. “Say he’s on the phone,” he said of his father, “and my brother and I were whispering to each other. And he’s like, ‘Quit fucking whispering!’ and whips something at my head.”

When THR ’s Seth Abramovitch inquired as to whether the abuse was intended as “corporal punishment,” Jake responded: “There’s punishment and then there’s abuse. He just took his anger out on us. He’s going through a divorce, losing everything—and we were the closest people to him.”

Through therapy , Jake has been able to forgive his father and make peace with the past. They remain close to this day, although his father declined to comment for THR ’s profile. However, Jake does believe that the “withholding and abusive” relationship with his father is the reason he is so professionally driven, be it in social media or boxing .

“I think it does create something where you are searching for that approval in other places,” he reflected. “I have this lurking energy of needing approval because my dad didn’t give me much. I need to heal that and know that’s there and just love myself more.”