Fanning unfiltered: Life after death, family tragedy and attending his own wake
One of Australia’s greatest surfers is the last of four brothers at the age of just 43. This is how he and his family have ridden the waves of pain and come out the other end.
By Dan Walsh
Mick Fanning and his mum Liz at Bells Beach, 2018.Credit: @ WSL / Cestari
“Life hits you with a sledgehammer every now and then.”
Mick Fanning and his family have been hit more than any clan should.
A three-time surfing world champion and now, a Sports Australia Hall of Fame inductee, Fanning has weathered more heartbreak than any 43-year-old should know.
Four Fanning brothers have graced the globe and left their mark. But Mick is now the only one left – his older siblings Sean, Peter and Ed all taken far too soon.
Mick Fanning and his brother Ed.Credit: Instagram
Fanning and his mother, Liz Osborne, father John and sister Rachel have been through it all together, a tremendous amount of grief revisited again in April when Ed suffered a cut to his foot while working as a surf instructor in Madagascar.
The wound became infected and Ed, 48, suffered cardiac complications after he was rushed to hospital. Unfathomably, of the four “incredibly mischievous” brothers, only Mick remains.
Sean died in a car crash on his way home from a Coolangatta party in 1998 at just 20. Mick, aged 17, could have easily been in the car, having chosen to walk home instead. Peter, 43 died in his sleep in 2015, due to complications from an enlarged heart while Mick was surfing for a fourth world title in Hawaii.
And now Ed, whose passing was followed just weeks later by the birth of Mick’s baby daughter, Lyla in late April. A gift when she was needed most.
“Life hits you with a sledgehammer every now and then,” Fanning says.
Mick Fanning at his Hall of Fame induction.Credit: Eddie Jim
“It takes time to process. It takes time to heal. It’s definitely a journey. But in those darkest moments, to have Lyla born in that period [after Ed’s death], she’s just this ray of sunshine.
“Each and every day, I swear you look at her and she’s smiling, just always smiling.
“That circle of life, I’m so lucky that she came into our life at that time when it could have got really, really dark.”
The Fanning tale, shaped by tragedy but not defined by it, has been told countless times. Even without reference to the 2015 mid-competition shark attack in South Africa that broke the internet, now mentioned alongside his name like an official title.
The best surfer to ever emerge from Penrith, where he lived until the age of 12, moves to the Gold Coast and takes on the world, claiming WSL titles in 2007, 2009 and 2013. In 16 years he was named Australian male surfer of the year nine times, and lays claim to being one of the nation’s greatest.
“If anyone takes anything away from my career or what I’ve done, it’d be hard work and backing yourself,” he says.
“That’s all I’d ask for. The accolades are for other people to talk about, but I’d just like to let kids know that you can get places with hard work.”
Mick Fanning behind the curtain during his first world title campaign in 2007.Credit: WSL
Each of Fanning’s world titles came with a different flavour.
2007: “I was flying by the seat of my pants”.
2009: “I learnt a lot about myself and mental strength, probably mental strength I didn’t know I had.”
2013: “I felt like a tradie – like I was going into every heat doubting myself and just trying to fight through it. I had to work so hard, I still don’t know where all the doubt came from. It just felt like I was getting old.”
Mick Fanning celebrates world title number three in 2013.Credit: Kelly Cestari
All the while, through all the triumphs, tribulations, injuries and celebrations, Fanning felt his brothers alongside him.
The day he claimed his first title in Brazil, a dolphin cruised the line-up on its own while Fanning knocked off the heats needed, one by one, to keep rivals Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater at bay.
Sean was with him that day, he says. Many more since. Pete, and now Ed, too.
“It’s this wild feeling when they pop up,” Fanning says.
“When I feel their energies around, I can tell who is who. I can tell which brother was with me at the time. With Sean I’d be feeling really energised and I’d almost get over-confident, I’d just be buzzing.
“But then on the other side with Pete – I’d say he was the most mischievous out of all of us – when I knew I was feeling him around I just felt incredibly calm.
“They’re all really different, I’m still yet to pinpoint how Ed feels when he shows up, but I know he’s around. I feel it and I know he’s looking after me and especially the kids. It’s a really nice feeling.
“In the darkest moments, you have that comfort knowing they’re still with us in spirit. We try and celebrate them each and every day.”
Fanning’s youngsters – Xander, four, and Lyla, seven months – with partner Breeana Randall, make for a life a world away from Fanning’s roguish formative years.
When alter-ego “Eugene” emerged after a few beers either side of competitions, yarns abounded – like knocking out the front teeth of great mate Joel Parkinson during a backyard sparring session one day.
“But dad life is just the best thing ever,” Fanning laughs now.
The Fannings: Mick with Xander and baby Lyla.Credit: Instagram
“I’m the lowest common denominator in our family household. When everyone else is sorted, when the kids are on track, that’s when I look at myself and what I’m doing with myself.
“Mum loves it, too, loves grandma life. She adores the kids. Spoils them rotten as all grandparents do. We’re all together on the Gold Coast, my mum, dad, and sister, we’re all close by and all together.
“I’m sure my son and daughter will be really mischievous, my brothers were. That’s just those Fanning genes. But they’re all clever and smart in their own right as well. They’re only really young right now but those personalities will start to come, and I’m starting to see different things come through in them.”
Fanning’s is a hell of a story. And it would be remiss not to include the day that is referenced more than any other, and has strangers stopping him almost a decade later in locations where they don’t know surfing, but they know what happened on July 19, 2015.
The day Fanning punched a great white shark at Jeffreys Bay. He has re-lived it countless times, made his own documentary – Save this Shark – to better understand them and conquer his fears.
Mick Fanning and Kelly Slater after Fanning was attacked by a shark at Jeffrey’s Bay.Credit: Kirstin Scholtz/WSL
At the end of that day, after Fanning had fought off the shark that tore through his leg-rope during a heat while compatriot Julian Wilson paddled into danger to try and help, came “the weirdest party you’ve ever seen”.
“It was like going to your own wake!”
“It was the last day of [the J-Bay Open], and normally at the end of an event everyone gets together and parties. But that was different, it was just so raw. Not just for me, but everyone that was there on the beach that day.
“Surfing is a giant family so that’s what it was that day. We almost lost one of the family and everyone just let everything out that night, all those emotions.
“It felt like being at my own wake because one minute everyone was laughing and the next minute everyone was crying. We almost lost one of the family and everyone just let everything out that night, all those emotions. It was very special, but also such a weird moment.”
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