I earned pop star wages working with Elton John & Emma Watson… Ibiza made me a drug dealer & I was jailed for £1m bust

LANGUISHING in a prison cell, facing a ten year stretch for drug dealing, Charlie Hendrie had hit rock bottom.

Just a year earlier, the former Royal Marine commando was a trusted bodyguard to the rich and famous, including Elton John, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, flying in private jets or holidaying with billionaire families on their super-yachts and earning “pop star wages”.

But after getting caught up in the Ibiza party scene, Charlie had spiralled into drug addiction and been lured into a life of crime – finally being banged up when he was arrested with £1million of the ecstasy-style drug MDMA. 

In his darkest hour, Charlie knew he had two choices – resign himself to a life of crime, or turn his life around. As one of Britain’s elite military veterans, fighting for survival was what he knew best. 

This weekend, Commando Charlie – as he is known to his thousands of fitness fans – is competing in the HYROX world championships, a gruelling challenge which combines a race with workout stops along the way.

Now he is sharing his story for the very first time in a bid to show others that no matter what mistakes you make, you can turn your life around.

“I wasn’t a criminal before, I just did a criminal act. I made a mistake, lost my way, lost my path,” says Charlie.

“The past does not define you, we all make mistakes. What truly matters and what does define you is how you come back from them. 

“Whatever mistakes you make you can use them as lessons. I made a big life-changing mistake, I thought my life was over, I hit rock bottom.

“I was the most stressed and depressed I have ever been in life so the only way for me to go then was up. But it had to start with a mindset shift – I had to want it and I had to take action.”

Harrowing war

Growing up on a tough council estate in Sunderland, Charlie knew he wanted a better life for himself.

His dad had been a Scots Guard, so he decided to follow in his footsteps with a military career.

“The Marines was the toughest so I chose that, the biggest challenge,” he says. “I wanted adventure, to do something with my life and make my parents proud.

“I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps, I wanted a sense of adventure, a chance to escape Sunderland, do something with my life and make my parents proud.”

He signed up aged just 16, the youngest recruit to go through training at that time, and passed out at the age of 17, just after the 9/11 terrorist attack in the World Trade Centre. At 18, he was deployed to the first invasion of Iraq.

Tours of Northern Ireland and Afghanistan followed, where he was involved in fierce battles.

“Afghanistan was by far the tour with the most combat and the most fighting,” he says.

“It was relentless, unforgiving, it was a regular thing. You do all your training that prepares you for these situations and then as soon as the rounds are coming at your head, that is when your training takes over. Nothing prepares you for that feeling.”

A-list bodyguard

After Afghanistan, he decided to leave the military for the first time since he was 16 and try life on civvy street.

He trained in close protection and headed to London, working on red carpet events, networking and making contacts.

He was soon mixing in a world he never dreamed of – looking after celebrities including Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, working as a bodyguard for Elton John and his husband David Furnish and their children in the summer and spending winters protecting billionaire families on their super-yachts in the Caribbean.

Charlie, now 39, was earning “pop star wages” flying on private jets, staying on private islands, dining with the rich and famous.

“I remember being sat on a superyacht with Elton, anchored off the Bay of St Tropez and I was at the dinner table with him and his billionaire celebrity friends,” he recalls. “I was just wow – this kid from Sunderland is sat eating with all these people.”

By the age of 28 he was working full-time for a super-rich countess in the Bahamas, where nipping to Miami to take her children shopping was just a regular weekend outing.

But it was then he let his heart rule his head and decided to quit his job to spend a summer in Ibiza with his then girlfriend.

“That was my first big mistake, the first bad decision,” he says.

Spiral of shame

His plan was to take four months off work in Ibiza, and then return to his work in close protection. But the drugs and party lifestyle took over and Charlie’s life started to spiral out of control.

“We had moved in with the tour managers of some of the top DJs which allowed me access to the party scene and everything that comes with it,” he says.

“I started to take drugs and the values, morals and standards that I once lived by through my military and close protection careers were slowly slipping away. 

“Although I had feelings of guilt, shame, regret and disappointment in myself for taking drugs and being in Ibiza and what I was getting up to, I then took more drugs to try to shut it out. As the summer went on, I was digging myself into a hole, getting deeper and deeper and by the end of the summer I had become a shadow of my former self.”

At the end of the season his apartment was burgled and his laptop, Rolex, iPad and money were stolen. Broke and dealing with a bad drug habit, Charlie was asked by someone he met in Ibiza to do a job in the UK.

“I was asked to do a one-off driving job, collect a shipment of drugs,” he explains. “My mindset at this stage was so far-removed from what it once was. I was just making bad decisions and after bad decisions. My perception, judgement and everything was off. 

“It was like if you have had too many drinks and you do something stupid and wake up with beer fear – this was like that but on a whole new level.”

Charlie and his girlfriend were to drive more than £1m worth of MDMA to a Staffordshire hotel for a drug deal. But police had the couple under surveillance and they were arrested with suitcases stuffed with 36 packages of the drug.

“That moment still lives with me to that day,” he says. “If I ever see blue lights in my rear view mirror it comes back to me because it was the time where I knew I had completely messed my life up.

“My world was about to be turned upside down and my new path was about to be filled with pain, misery and suffering and I only had myself to blame.

“When you are in the cells you get one phone call. The person I always turn to is my father. He picked up the phone and I said ‘I am in a police station, I’ve been arrested, I need help.’ He said, ‘Was it a fight, son?’ I said, ‘No, it’s drugs.’ He put the phone down.

I had feelings of guilt, shame, regret and disappointment in myself for taking drugs and being in Ibiza and what I was getting up to. I then took more drugs to try to shut it out

Charlie Hendrie

In 2015, they were found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and Charlie and his Ibiza contact were sentenced to 10 years each, while his then girlfriend was jailed for seven years. Charlie says it was the wake-up call that he needed.

“When I got ten years it felt like a lifetime. It was hard to see a way to come back,” he explains.

“Prison can swallow you up. It is so easy to go off the rails, stay stressed, stay depressed, wallow in self-pity, and drugs and trouble are always there if you want them.

“As soon as I was sentenced my mindset and the values I hold myself accountable to came back to how they were before Ibiza. I became strong-minded, focused. Exercise became my medicine and my therapy. 

“I chose to be positive rather than dwell on how bad my situation was. I knew how I chose to perceive my situation and my environment would make the difference to how quickly the days would go. 

“Even though I was in prison I still found things to be grateful for, I would still wake up and practice gratitude. I knew that this was a lesson I had to go through in order to find my true path and true purpose.”

Second chance

His fitness drive got him through the groundhog days of prison life and he started working towards his personal training qualifications which he hoped would give him a fresh start on his release.

After five years he walked out of jail, still with another five years on licence ahead of him, with just £40 to his name.

“I had all the stigma attached to me from prison, from drugs, my reputation was tarnished. I knew it was going to be hard to find work, but I was determined.”

Prison can swallow you up. It is so easy to go off the rails, stay stressed, stay depressed, wallow in self-pity, and drugs and trouble are always there if you want them

Charlie Hendrie

An old friend gave him a start in a new gym in Manchester and Charlie’s first class had just five clients in it.

But within six months his classes were packed, with waiting lists, and the Commando Charlie phenomenon was born.

He set up his own business during lockdown, with live online workouts. “I had just been through five years of lockdown banged up in prison, so I knew how much exercise had helped me. I knew I could help install that mental strength, resilience, positivity and determination in others.”

Now he has a huge online following and also takes teams of clients out on challenges and expeditions across the country, as well as giving motivational talks about his experiences.

And despite the highs, the lows, and the bad decisions that cost him his freedom, Charlie believes he has come back stronger.

“A positive mindset is a choice, we can choose to be positive and mental strength is everything.” He says.”No matter how many times you fall, you can always get back up even stronger.

“I wouldn’t change what has happened because I feel I have found a true path and a true purpose.”

Instagram @commando_charlie