Brian Lara with daughter Sydney in the pool of the $6.5 million home he shares with his brother, Richard, in Trinidad.From an exclusive interview with Susan Rozsnyai of 'Hello' magazine.
TO date, former West Indies cricket captain, Brian Lara, has been tight-lipped with journalists from the region on issues that have dogged his stellar career. But in the July 4, edition of London's 'Hello' magazine, he spoke candidly about the more personal side of his life.
On his mother's health, Brian told the writer about his anguish over her breast cancer and diabetes, and his willingness to abandon the English tour should she become ill and require him home.
Brian, whose father died before he could see his son attain cricketing fame, said his relationship with his mother, Pearl, 69, became stronger after the passing of his dad.
"As a sportsman you're constantly travelling and tend to lose touch with those close to you. Recently, I've been able to spend a lot more time with her and I have come to realise how important my family are to me," Lara told 'Hello'.
The star batsman admitted his difficulty in getting over the death of a father with whom he had become inseparable during the last 10 years of his life.
Lara describes how he came under public scrutiny which subsequently turned his life upside down shortly after breaking the batting records. And he was critical of the lack of guidance from the "father figures of cricket" in the Caribbean.
He also rapped the type of coaching that a young batsman like himself, suddenly thrust into the limelight, needed, but failed to get. He went through three months of psychological counselling in New Jersey during his break from cricket, which he said has helped him reshape his priorities.
"I have become a lot more passive towards my professional career, and a lot more proactive in my family life."
"I realise you may be up on a pedestal one day, but the moment you don't reach certain expectations you're down again," he told the magazine.
Brian is the father of three-year-old Sydney, the product of a four-year relationship he had with Leasel who lives in Trinidad.
He told the magazine that he has a good relationship with Leasel and is cognisant of the importance of both parents in a child's life. However, on the question of forming a permanent family unit, Lara said when that time comes, "I want that first effort to be the only effort."
- Tony Ward
