Celebrity Apprentice winner Benji Marshall reveals why he wants nothing to do with his long-lost dad

Celebrity Apprentice winner and former NRL star Benji Marshall has revealed why he wants absolutely nothing to do with his long-lost father. 

The 37-year-old told Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa on Wednesday that he once asked his mother who his father was, and will never forget the look on his mother’s face when he asked. 

‘When I asked my mum who my dad was — I’ll never forget the look on her face. The look of fear, worry, it actually made me scared. I never ever asked her again. I still don’t know until this day,’ he explained.

He added that while he doesn’t want to know his father, he’s interested in learning about his ancestry. 

‘I don’t want to know my dad. I’m one of those people, though that like if there’s like toxic people in my life, I can just cut them off and that’s it. I’m not really dealing with you again,’ Benji said. 

‘But I do have this want to know like, what am I? Am I like, English? Am I, I don’t know. Like what half-nationality wise.’ 

Benji also revealed on Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa on Wednesday that he once had 10 men claim to be his dad after he did a documentary in New Zealand. 

‘After I made my debut, I did this documentary thing in New Zealand and said I’d never met my dad and I had 10 emails from people saying they were my dad,’ Benji told the pair. 

Benji explained his mother had him at the age of 15.

‘I don’t want to dig there with her. That’s her story. This is more about me and what I’m doing. I don’t we didn’t really want to drag her into it.’

Benji said Warner Bros are looking at producing his story as a limited series, with details yet to be announced.

He is married to wife Zoe and they share two children: Fox, five and Ever, 10 months.

Benji won hearts by talking about the difficulty of not knowing his dad while on The Celebrity Apprentice.

The footballer said the real him is not the ‘flashy rugby league rock star’ but the man in search of his identity.

‘This is a story that I’ve never told. I’ve never talked about this publicly,’ he said.

‘I’ve never ever talked about this because it means so much to me,’ he added.

‘That’s not the real me. You know how I know that? Because I don’t even know the real me. There’s a half of me missing that I haven’t found out about. I don’t know my real dad. I don’t know my culture. I don’t know my nationality. Who am I?’

Marshall called time on his 346 game NRL career last year after coming off the bench for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in their loss against the Penrith Panthers in the NRL Grand Final.

The five-eighth made his NRL debut as a schoolboy prodigy in 2003 and won a premiership with the West Tigers two years later, where his famous flick pass set up a try during the 2005 grand final became part of NRL folklore.

Benji won The Celebrity Apprentice on Tuesday night and raised $487,105 for his charity South Cares, a not-for-profit institution closely affiliated with the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL club.