Inside Andrew Tate's troubled upbringing: How multi-millionaire influencer grew ... trends now
Blaming 'satanists' for his upcoming extradition home to the UK, Andrew Tate is a long way from his childhood spent dodging violence in a crime-ridden Luton estate.
Both Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan, 35, 'unequivocally deny' allegations of rape and human trafficking which date back to 2012-2015.
But today the court of appeal in Bucharest ruled they would be extradited following the conclusion of legal proceedings in Romania.
The high-profile case is far distant from the self-styled King of Masculinity's upbringing in the Bedfordshire town, where the two brothers and their sister grew up.
Tate's mother, Eileen Tate, still lives in the same end of terrace house worth £275,000 that belongs to a housing association on a council estate in the late 1990s.
She moved to the home with her three children from Chicago in the late 1990s when her marriage to American air force veteran and chess champion EmoryTate II collapsed.
Both Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan, 35, 'unequivocally deny' allegations of rape and human trafficking which date back to 2012-2015
Tate's mother, Eileen Tate, still lives in the same end of terrace house worth £275,000 that belongs to a housing association on a council estate in the late 1990s. Pictured: With her children in Luton
The Marsh Farm Estate (pictured) was built in the 1970s to home people moving out of London in a mixture of flats and houses
While he remains very close to his brother Tristan, who moved to Romania with him, he is understood to have no relationship with younger sister Janine who is a lawyer in Kentucky, USA.
He said of her 'I have a sister. My sister and I don't really talk.' Andrew and Tristan have described her as a 'feminist' which is thought to be an admission that she disapproves of his views.
Both had been under house arrest but this condition was later removed, although they still had to remain in the country.
A request to leave Bucharest and visit their mother in Luton who had suffered a heart attack was denied at Christmas by officials.
His father, who died in 2015, was a high level chess player, who earned the nickname 'extraterrestrial' because his play was said to be out of this world.
He won 80 games against grandmasters over his career and was six times champion of Nevada and five time US Armed Forces champion.
Like his son would grow up to be, Emory was a prolific and controversial social media user, posting regular outspoken content on Facebook which was highly critical of American foreign policy, before he died suddenly from a heart attack seven years ago.
Mrs Tate brought her children up in relative poverty after moving to the Bedfordshire town when Tate was aged 11.
Eileen, who is British, moved back to the UK from Chicago when Tate was aged 11 in the late 1990s when her marriage to American air force veteran and chess champion EmoryTate II (pictured right with Tate as a toddler) collapsed
Tate and his brother Tristan idolise their father who passed away in 2015. Their father (pictured with his children) was a high level chess player
Mum Eileen refused to discuss her son's controversial TikTok posts, but the social media influencer has admitted that he has a difficult relationship with his sister Janice (pictured left with her mother, Eileen). Tate and his brother with their father, right
The Marsh Farm Estate was built in the 1970s to home people moving out of London in a mixture of flats and houses.
Three 15-storey tower blocks dominate the skyline, although many of the homes themselves are neatly kept.
But when Tate was growing up locals describe the area as the 'worst area of the worst town'.
'Crime was just an everyday occurrence,' one person who grew up on the estate at the same time as Tate told UnHerd. 'If the other residents thought you were a grass or too nosy, you would be burnt out. Your car would be burnt. Your property would be burnt. You would have paint put on your house saying 'grass'.'
This experience appears to have shaped the controversial influencer's views of his home country, calling English people 'the most violent people in the world' in one video.
But while he was arrived at Lea Manor High School in 1997 fellow classmates say he would be 'furthest away and closest the exit'.
They continued: 'he found comfort on the fringes, content with playing with his Pokémon cards and keeping away from the chaos for as long as possible, which wasn’t very long.'
The school-friend added that he was bullied for his American accent - and one day finally snapped, with his violent side coming out when he punched a boy after he was mocked in a science class.
Tate's negative comments about mental health - he described people who feel they need therapy as 'useless' - offended an uncle who Tate's father Emory suffered similar issues
As his internet fame grew he left Britain with his brother Tristan (pictured together as young boys) to set up in Romania where he continued to build an online audience
Andrew Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan Tate, 35, have now been released after they were arrested yesterday evening. Pictured outside court today
After that, they say he changed - becoming a 'rebel' and swearing at teachers.
Tate - whose full name, after his father, is Emory Andrew Tate III - was soon showing the money-making tendencies that have recently seen him come to mainstream attention.
One relative said: 'I remember when he was 14 he was earning money working at his uncle's fish business and he had bought himself his first mobile phone. It wasn't much but he loved it.
'Then one day these three guys from the Marsh Farm estate jumped him for it. These were not lads to be messed with but Andrew took care of all three of them quite easily.
'At that stage he hadn't done any kickboxing, he just had a punchbag set up in the back garden.
'He was always very sure of himself. He didn't ever want to be in a gang. He's an individual and certainly not someone to start a fight, he'd stop fights not start them.'
After leaving school he went into sales where he earned commission on windows and solar panels, bought himself a motorbike and began training as a kickboxer at Luton's Storm Gym.
At one point he even returned to his old school as an IT technician, before being fired, UnHerd reports.
In 2016 Tate was thrown off of Big Brother after a video emerged of him appearing to hit a former girlfriend with a belt
Tate was said to be furious about being kicked out of the show. He said that the footage was consensual and that the former couple were both laughing on the video. The woman (above) confirmed it was consensual and that he remained a friend
He excelled and went on to become a world champion in the sport but it is his post kick-boxing role as an influencer on social media that has proved highly controversial.
In 2016 he was thrown out of the Big Brother house after a video emerged of him appearing to hit a former girlfriend with a belt. She later stated it was consensual and that he remained a friend.
Associations of this kind have seen some members of his wider family stop talking to him and those who approve of him.
One relative told us: 'We don't even speak to Andrew Tate or that side of the family. They don't speak to their nan. They are abroad doing whatever they are doing and we want nothing to do with them.'
And others said they didn't want to be publicly associated with Tate because of his toxic views.
His comments about mental health - he described people who feel they need therapy as 'useless' - offended one uncle who told us: 'I was surprised by his negative comments about mental health. His dad had mental health problems so that seemed a very stupid thing for him to say.
'I think he does it to play the game. I told my sister that he shouldn't have said about mental health and she said that's Andrew all over. He thinks it is a weakness to talk about mental health but we all know it ain't because maybe 70 per cent of us will suffer from mental health things at some point and need an arm round the shoulder. I think that
