My biggest takeaway from this book is loving people who are a little hard to love, and recognising that many people are doing the best with the tools they have been given. And what a crazy and beautiful thing to be raised in two diffferent cultures. So it actually brought my mum and me closer, because she realised she was literally my real-life hero growing up.” Her last breath really stayed with me … and I'll probably never forget that was her last breath. And we were there, you know. Ruby says she was freed up when she eventually came to understand that the difficult events of her childhood were not her fault.

So later that day me and Dad waited for her outside KFC. Dad had a van at the time, so we all had to squash up together on the front seat — Dad, me in the middle and then my sister, Lesh, on the side. Squashed between my dad and my sister: it was the best feeling in the world. Adults had told me it was impossible to get an older sibling, but here she was. My older sister. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t say a word I was so nervous, but inside I was wearing the biggest smile. Then Dad said, Do you want to hang out with her without me? Of course!

While she’s had a nomadic existence around New Zealand, her roots are firmly, proudly, planted and shared in her Samoan heritage on Dad’s side, and in her mother’s palagi – European – side. If you talk to anyone in New Zealand, that is straight up what it’s like. I didn’t even know we were live on TV, I was just giving her – and then she started asking me questions. I was like, ‘Oh Jo, we’re like, on TV.’” I said, ‘I will not put anything in there that you’re not okay with’, and she felt a lot better. I said, ‘I really want to put in the Women’s Refuge and everything’. Obviously, she didn’t feel like…” Tui’s voice tapers off.

Our values of independence, intelligence and integrity underpin all we do. We do not underestimate the intelligence of our valued readers - and are committed to delivering quality news that you can trust. News that is worth making room for. They did try to love him. I heard from my aunty that when Grandma died she said to Grandad, You have to look after my son, Vaki. But Dad was always arguing with his family because he had been through so much, and I think that because he rejected his family’s love, I got that little bit of extra love from them — like I got his share too. I got away with heaps, and I really felt that. She’s spoken to some players who think they have given up too early; others perhaps held on for too long. On 15 July, the day PR7s stages a western conference event in San Jose, California, a separate professional sevens competition is due to take place at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.When I see the contract in front of me, it’s not so much about everybody else. It’s like, well, Ruby, is your heart on this? Is your passion still in this? This is Ruby Tui. An open, raw and honest account of her journey from a troubled and unstable childhood, searching for a better option in life, to Olympic champion and the world's best rugby sevens player. The storytelling is raw. Her life uprooted – from happy, wholesome early days in Wellington to chaotic, scary and ugly times in Marlborough and on the West Coast.