WIM HOF: ‘I THOUGHT I’D BE A MONK – BUT I HAVE SEVEN KIDS’

Each week we ask a public figure to delve into their childhood, and look at how their early experiences influenced the man they grew up to be.

Here, Wim Hof, 66, who holds multiple world records for his ability to withstand extremely cold temperatures, talks about being a twin, parenting styles, and resilience.

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My twin brother and I had one identity. Nobody could tell us apart. I knew even in the womb that we were one person, and it was a nice feeling. It was only when we each started to date, when we became sexually attracted to girls, and all the hormones happened, that we split apart from each other. Then we got our own identities – Wim became Wim, and Andrew became Andrew.

Growing up, we were always very sensitive, emotional beings. I’ve always respected the elders, and I’ve always loved the animals. My twin brother and I were the doctors of all the sick animals in the neighbourhood. We were so ridiculously sensitive that once my brother and I came home with a dead rat on a plank. My father asked us what the hell we were doing, and we said we wanted to resurrect the rat.

My father didn’t have a good childhood. He didn’t develop as much as he would have if he’d had a better time growing up. He did the best he could with his nine kids, and I remember playing a lot of games with him, like ping pong. We played football as a family, too. My mother was in one goal and my father was in the other goal, and then all the children kicked the ball around, trying to score. I loved my parents, but my aspirations are different from theirs. I developed a very strong, faithful path that makes me able to get into science, even though I’m not a scientist, to work with the best scientists in the world, to do world records everywhere, to be invited to talk in front of thousands of people.

All this work began, actually, when I was 12 years old. I told my friends: “If the world thinks that abuse, war, disease, darkness, depression, and pollution is normal, OK, but I think it is sick, and I’m going to do something about it. Do what? I don’t know. But I must do something.” And that’s when my faith began – like a raindrop, which, over the last 50 years, has become a tsunami. And that’s all because of the power of my belief in nature, in myself, in the world.

When I was young, I thought I’d be a monk. I thought I’d never marry or have children. I went to India when I was 17 and an astrologist said he wanted to do my chart. I had very little belief in this, but he said that I was going to be very wealthy and have a lot of kids. He was correct!

I have seven kids, but I’m not into the money. I live a simple life. I wake up and pray, I do breathing, I go into the sauna, I go into the ice, I play guitar. This is my wealth. I want to stay playful, like a child, because then you grow and where there is growth, there is life. Where there is life, the disease is not able to get in, because love is stronger than everything else.

My children used to say, “Papa, act normal.” To them, I was strange, but now they understand what I’m doing. I love them, and I want them to develop spiritually in a world which is mostly materialistic. If they are able to do that, then I have succeeded. I was very open with them when they were young, and I would be playing outside more than they did. They still say now that I am very playful. I am a child of Mother Nature, and she is there for all of us, to elevate our consciousness. I have no secrets, I’m very spontaneous, very open.

To be a real man, is to be caring. Isn’t love the greatest power? If you show care, you become aligned with that great power, and you don’t feel fear. I train with the best fighters of the world, and I beat them in my exercising. Why? Because when I go into the iceberg, it looks like I’m doing nothing, yes – but imagine staying an hour in icy water. Your body needs to work enormously hard, and that creates focus with my brain, and I like it, because I love life.

I’ve not had therapy because my therapy is cold water. When I’m in ice, that cold makes me stop thinking, it’s like BOOM, and it cuts through and shuts me up. It makes me feel who I am, that I can survive this cold, even if I don’t always like it. Each time I’m in the cold, I am even more aware that I’ve got big ideas, big vision. I want to change the world, and I am changing the world, let me tell you that. But I am humble, I’m just a humble man.

I also love to sing in front of people. This is how I can say not what’s in my head, but what’s in my heart. Singing is how I release pressure. My music took some years to get out, but it’s here now.

I don’t have any regrets. And I don’t regret having no regrets. I am at peace. In nature, I found a great mirror to go into the depth of myself. I’m able to beat what you guys all think is scientifically impossible.

Wim Hof’s debut album ‘Into the Depths‘ is available now

2025-11-02T06:32:58Z