Malaysians are currently shooting virtual daggers at Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios after something he said about his Malaysian mother’s childhood.
In an interview with Louis Theroux, shared on TikTok, the tennis player said that his mother had lived in a “wooden shack” about an hour and a half from Kuala Lumpur and described the location as a “pure slum city”.
This came after Louis asked Nick about where in Malaysia his mother is from.
“Her family is mainly from KL. But then there’s a bunch of them from Penang as well,” he said.
“Kuala Lumpur.” Louis clarified the meaning of ‘KL’.
“Yeah, KL, that’s where most of her family is from, but she was about an hour and a half (away) in a village, and we went to go to the village, and I’m talking, like, pure slum city. Like, my mum was from, like, she probably grew up in like a wooden shack, and she probably thought that was the best thing ever,” he said.
Nick went on to explain that people tend to underestimate his achievements as a tennis player, but then he remembers that his mother “grew up in, like, a wooden shack” and his Greek father “came (to Australia) by boat”.
“Is it really underachieving, or is it just, like, finding a way through all this mess and then making it work?”
However, Malaysians believe that Nick is lying about his mother’s living situation while she was growing up in Malaysia. Here’s why.
According to Mamamia, Nick’s mother is Gombak-born Nurlaila Kyrgios, whose grandfather’s cousin was the Sultan of a *Malaysian state. This makes her, by birth, a princess of that state.
*There is currently a bit of confusion as to whether the state mentioned is Selangor or Pahang. Mamamia reported that the state in question is Pahang, though some netizens are saying it is Selangor.
In her 20s, she had chosen to give up her royal title and move to Australia.
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Many who knew of this questioned how someone who is of royal descent would live in “a wooden shack” in a “pure slum city”.
You can check out the interview here:
@officiallouistheroux More from my conversation with Nick Kyrgios! You can find the full episode on Spotify – Merry Christmas!
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
