David Letele

Real Life With John Cowan

Warning: This article contains discusses depression and suicide.

Brought up in a family that made its living through gang activity and robbing banks, David Letele wasn’t expected to make anything of his life.

The ‘Brown Buttabean’ – who now runs a large and highly successful social enterprise – was born the son of the Mongrel Mob’s Auckland leader.

Naturally, in those early days, police were often at the door.

“My first memory of the police is when I was three years old. They raided our house and stole all our Christmas presents. It’s not until now that I realise that’s not stealing, it’s called confiscating.”

For 40 years, Letele hated the police. But now, through his social work, they’ve emerged as a surprise ally.

“It was due to Covid that we started working alongside the police, which I never thought in my life I’d ever say. I understand now that police are just another community group doing great work for families on the ground.”

Letele’s father was put behind bars when he was just five, prompting his grandparents to take over his care and shift him to Australia, and then to Samoa.

He found being raised by strict Seventh Day Adventists difficult, and it’s put him off church ever since. But he’s still retained belief in a higher power.

“I don’t go to church, but I’ve got a very strong faith in God – it’s unwavering. I truly believe I’m not dead or in prison because of his plan for me.”

But things would get worse before they got better. After returning to New Zealand in his early 20s, he was working as a security guard at his Dad’s hydroponic weed facility when it got raided.

The tumult of the incident prompted Letele to self-harm.

“After that I ended up walking into the kitchen depressed and put a knife through my chest. I was so unhappy. I don’t know if I wanted to die, but I was angry at my father and the world and I hated everything.”

Worse was still to come. Letele would eventually lose all his money through mismanagement, and in the process lost his family.

“I was a mess. I was 210kg, so in bad shape physically, but worse mentally. I hated my life.”

It was then, when he was at rock-bottom, staying at his sister’s house and sleeping in a bed he couldn’t fit in, that Letele resolved to turn his life around for the sake of his family.

“I used it as fuel to be better. I knew I had to get my children back, I had to be a better example, I had to get to work and stop at nothing.”

From there, he started a fitness journey that saw him drop 100kg and would inspire him to start Buttabean Motivation (BBM), which has helped thousands more achieve their goals and break the destructive cycles and patterns in their own lives.

Today, he delivers targeted health, nutrition, and fitness programmes, youth employment programmes, runs the Buttabean Motivation Foodshare, and fundraises and advocates for communities wherever he sees a need.

After the North Island floods in late January, he helped feed 15,000 people, and in March was involved in fully furnishing 50 homes with beds, fridges and anyything else needed to create a home out of an empty house.

He says the people he helps are receptive to him because they know he’s been there before.

“My family had to go through all this turmoil and struggle so we could help more people now.

“The people we’re helping are a lot more likely to listen to us because we’ve been there, we understand what it’s like, and we’re trying to show them there’s another way.”

-Matt Burrows

Born the son of Auckland Mongrel Mob leader, David is a community leader, life coach and motivational speaker based in Auckland. In 2014, he started a 100kg weight-loss journey that would gain him thousands of followers. This led to him creating Buttabean Motivation which has helped thousands more achieve their goals and break the destructive cycles and patterns in their own lives.

David played representative rugby league in New Zealand, and professional rugby league in Australia, with teams including the North Sydney Bears, Cootamundra Bulldogs and AS Carcassonne in France, and achieved notoriety as heavyweight boxer "The Brown Buttabean". In July 2022, his book No Excuses: My Story was released, detailing how he turned his life around. He won the 2022 Kiwibank New Zealand Local Hero Of the Year Award Te Pou Toko o te Tau for Auckland.

David lives in Henderson, Auckland with his wife Koreen and four sons.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.