Ronnie O’Sullivan has admitted his own mother, Maria, was “disgusted” with him due to his behaviour in his early 20s. The Rocket previously revealed he “lost himself” to alcohol and drugs during the early part of his snooker career after winning his maiden UK Championship at the age of 17 and his first Masters title when he was 19.

O’Sullivan is one of the greatest snooker players of all time and is still viewed as the player to beat at tournaments, despite the fact that he turns 50 next month. Earlier this year, the blockbuster star moved to Dubai with his wife, Laila Rouass, and is now attempting to have a quiet life. But that wasn’t always the way for the Englishman.

O’Sullivan partied hard during the early part of his snooker career and has previously opened up about his alcohol and drug use.

The snooker star was forced to cope without the presence of his father and his mother at one point in the 1990s after his dad was sent to prison for murder in 1992, before his mum spent a year behind bars for tax evasion.

The Sunday Times have reported that O’Sullivan was a ‘bloated mess’ and barely recognisable to his mother by the time she was released from prison.

And during an interview with the publication, the 49-year-old conceded: “She was disgusted with me.”

O’Sullivan then spoke about the feelings he had after his father, Ronnie Sr, was released from prison in 2012 after spending 17 years inside.

“It was a bit of an anticlimax in a way. I thought everything would go back to normal – and it didn’t. It was all too overwhelming for him.”

O Sullivan had been expecting a larger-than-life father who used to make him feel safe when his dad returned to the outside world. But the snooker ace added: “That’s not what came out. He was like a 54-year-old f***ing child.”

O’Sullivan moved to Dubai after selling his house on the Essex border of London.

And he referred to his mother for a second time in the interview as he explained it had been taking him 15 times longer than it should have to visit her before he left for the Middle East due to the closure of a road bridge between her house and his former base in England.

“That isn’t going to be done for years because the council hasn’t got the money to fix it,” he added. “So it took me an hour to go and see my mum, when it should be just a four-minute journey.”