An hour’s boat trip from the Tuilagi residence, on the Samoan island of Upola, lives a 56-year-old widow in the village of Alafua.
Her small wooden hut, at the end of a dirt track, is surrounded by lush banana plantations and flowering breadfruit trees.
It is almost 10,000 miles away from Leicester, but this is where Manu Tuilagi ended up in his quest to overcome his demons.
England centre Manu Tuilagi turned to witchdoctors in a bid to end his injury problems
Tuilagi returned to his roots in the Pacific with advice after enduring an array of issues
The England centre’s career was almost derailed by six years of injury problems and, when modern medicine failed to work, he returned home to his roots in the Pacific.
At the end of the dirt track, he met the 56-year-old ‘Fofo Samoa’ — known in the western world as a witchdoctor — and went in search of evil spirits.
‘My gift is to see spirits,’ the spirit healer tells The Mail on Sunday, rolling her ‘r’s, characteristic of her half Samoan and half Fijian accent. ‘This is what I have done since I was 14.’
It was Tuilagi’s mother, Aliitasi, who ordered him to visit the Fofo Samoa back in 2017.
Tuilagi is one of seven brothers. The eldest, Olotuli — a ‘Fa’afafine’ or cross-dresser who has lived his life as a woman and goes by the name ‘Julie’ — had previously visited for treatment.
It is common practice in Samoa, founded heavily on religious beliefs, with healing powers believed to be passed down through generations.
‘I search for people’s Ma’i [sickness] and find out if it is caused by the spirits,’ says the Fofo Samoa, who did not want her real name to be revealed. ‘When I was young I started to see a lot of people — white-faced people and frozen people.
‘Then when I went to school and I felt things. I started to bleed in my face, my nose and my mouth. I was taken to the hospital but my granddad, who was a psychic and a doctor, explained the story behind the spirits. That’s when I got my gift.’
Tuilagi spent four days in the Fofo Samoa’s company. Each morning, he would sail between the islands with his brother, Alesana, spending two hours being treated with Fijian oils. He would wrap himself in a towel and Alesana would wait patiently in the spare room.
‘I saw that three Tamaitai [lady spirits] were following Manu,’ she says. ‘Two Samoan ladies and a Hawaiian girl. The Hawaiian girl was the worst. These ladies were really attracted to him — they like good-looking, talented people — and they kept following him.
‘These women told me Manu belongs to them. I said “No, no. God created him and he’s got his own parents to look after him.” They told me it’s none of my business and called me a lot of words. They keep saying that he’s their husband. I said “God has a plan for this man. God has empowered me with his power to remove you from him.”
‘I massaged his whole body with oils made from coconut, frangipani, sandalwood, rose. He started to feel different, light and young. I cast the women away
