Marcus Rashford’s mother ‘missed meals so her children could eat’

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford’s mother has said she would sometimes go without food to ensure her children could eat.

The England international and food poverty campaigner joined his mother Melanie Maynard to speak about their experiences for an interview with BBC Breakfast.

She said: “I had three jobs and if I didn’t do that we wouldn’t have been able to cook a pot of food, it’s just a bit difficult.

“So Marcus is only telling the story from how he sees it and the words he has been saying come from the bottom of his heart.

“Sometimes it was really bad, I’d rather give the food to the kids than give it to myself, sometimes I didn’t get anything to eat.

“Sometimes we didn’t even have a loaf of bread in the house, it’s embarrassing to say, but we didn’t.”

The 23-year-old, who forced a Government U-turn on free school meal vouchers over the summer holidays, said: “All the little struggles and the sacrifices that you made, it helps you appreciate everything like 10 times more, so I don’t see it as a weakness.

“I think in sport you have to have something behind you that is pushing you. When you come from a place of struggle and pain, a lot of the time it switches and it becomes your drive and motivation.”

The programme filmed the pair as they travelled to food charity FareShare, where it was revealed a new unit would be named Melanie Maynard House.

The full interview will be shown on BBC Breakfast from 6am on Thursday and Marcus Rashford: Feeding Britain’s Children is on BBC One on Monday December 21 from 7pm.