Richard Sandrak has been famous since he was eight years old, dubbed the ‘Little Hercules’ or the ‘world’s strongest boy’.
Weighing just five stone 10 pounds (36kg) at 12 years old, he could bench press 210lbs (95kg), more than double his body weight, and was considered the strongest human in the world pound for pound.
Originally from Ukraine but moving to Pennsylvania, US, aged two, his gruelling training regime reportedly included 600 push-ups and 300 squats in seven-hour daily workouts.
He starred in a Hollywood film titled Little Hercules in 2009 and met Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern as he did the rounds on talk shows.
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But behind the scenes, Sandrak claims he suffered at the hands of his abusive father.
This year, he gave a new interview and opened up about his very different life today.
‘Little Hercules’ claims his dad was abusive
Sandrak told Metro that his father Pavel would go into ‘rage fits’ if he disappointed him in the gym, claiming that there were times when ‘a simple training session turned into what felt like a really intense hostage situation’.
In 2003, Richard called the police on Pavel after he allegedly violently assaulted his mother Lena, leading him to be deported back to Ukraine and jailed.
He hasn’t seen him since and added: “I will always hold resentment towards him.”
Where is ‘Little Hercules’ now?
Sandrak quit weightlifting at 16, saying ‘it was almost like PTSD in a sense’, and instead focused on swimming, diving, basketball, and skateboarding.
He says his weightlifting career, along with later sporting injuries, have left him suffering serious joint pain, adding: “My knees and my ankles are pretty much done for.”
Aged 18, he got a job working in a crepe cafe, going on to work in restaurants for years.
In 2015, aged 23, he revealed in an interview with Inside Edition that he had a completely different physique now he had given up weightlifting, and worked as a stunt performer at Universal Studios’ Waterworld show in California.
He explained he got set on fire five times a day and launched himself off a 50 foot platform - rather him than me.
Tragically, he began to suffer from addiction, explaining: “I was using alcohol as an escape.”
After an agonising experience with kidney stones related to his stress and alcohol abuse, Sandrak went sober and hasn’t had a drink since 31 October 2023.
Now aged 33, he’s weighing up his career options, and considering becoming a personal trainer, nutritionist, or an actor.
He still enjoys a close relationship with his mum, explaining: “We have been through hell and back together and will always be able to lean on each other no matter what.”
Simon Fearn