Adam Peaty’s dad has spoken out on the family’s high-profile feud following his son James’s arrest for allegedly threatening his Olympic champ brother.
The 30-year-old swimmer is engaged to Gordon Ramsay’s daughter, Holly, 25, and recently celebrated his stag do during a weekend away in Budapest.
However, things are believed to have taken a turn when older sibling James, 34, was detained by police upon Adam’s arrival back in the UK.
Holly is said to have contacted the authorities after her husband-to-be grew unsettled by receiving messages of a violent nature during the trip and feared he could be assaulted after landing.
Consequently, five officers met Adam’s plane at Manchester Airport and escorted him safely through security, with James later arrested at his home.
A statement from Staffordshire Police said at the time: ‘We arrested a 34-year-old man, from the Uttoxeter area, on November 11, 2025, on suspicion of harassment.
‘The man was released on conditional bail while our enquiries continue.’
Now, the brothers’ father, Mark, has told The Sun that the rift has gone too far.
‘They’re brothers,’ Mark began.
‘They’ve always been close, but like any normal family, brothers fight, argue, fall out, make up, and start all over again.
‘But it’s got out of hand.’
Mark also said he feels there has been ‘very little empathy’ towards James.
His remarks come after James was seen for the first time since his arrest, with photos capturing him in Newcastle.
Wearing a black puffer coat and grey baseball cap, he stood outside smoking a cigarette before battling the rain to make it to his car.
As he climbed into the driver’s seat, James kept his head down but flashed a smile.
Meanwhile, Adam and Holly are due to say ‘I do’ in just a matter of weeks, having announced their engagement in September last year.
Alas, the cracks in the Peaty family are only deepening despite the countdown to Adam’s nuptials, as it’s been claimed the athlete has also become distant from his mother, Caroline, as she allegedly ‘enables’ James’s behaviour.
The spat between Adam and James began in 2021, shortly after the Strictly Come Dancing star released his autobiography, in which he detailed his brother’s ‘demons’ and personal struggles with addiction.
Despite being ‘upset’ by what was written and how it portrayed him as a ‘bum’, James was able to patch things up with Adam and was supposedly asked to be a groomsman on his big day.
But, after James worked on a building project for his bro, it’s now said they haven’t been on speaking terms at all since June this year.
As a result of the so-called feud, Adam’s family feels ‘pushed to the side’ and that he is prioritising his famous future in-laws over them.
It’s further claimed that Adam’s sister will be his only relative attending his wedding, while his mum is ‘heartbroken’ by how things have ended up.
Sources have said she thinks Holly ‘doesn’t consider Caroline glamorous enough’ in comparison with her own family, while Adam has ‘changed’ since the couple have been together.
‘They think Adam and Holly don’t feel like they’re good enough,’ an insider said.
‘The stress from this situation has taken its toll on both Caroline and Mark.’
One person who isn’t staying silent on matters is Adam’s auntie, his mother’s sister, Louise, who has hit out at both her nephew and bride-to-be.
‘Yes. Adam is a born-again Christian,’ she began.
‘He’s not living by the tenets of Christianity, is he? Where is “Honour thy mother and thy father?” Where is the forgiveness?’
She’s also alleged that Adam’s mother was shamed for her ‘looks’ and asked to wear a different dress than the one she planned for the wedding before being uninvited.
Caroline was noticeably absent from Holly’s recent hen do, which she held at Soho Farmhouse with her own mum, Tana, Adam’s sister, and family friend Victoria Beckham in attendance.
Neither Adam nor Holly has commented on the feud yet.
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