Cristiano Ronaldo has discussed in depth the human side to his character and revealed why he is motivated to do charity work.
The soon-to-turn-28-year-old spoke in depth to The Sun about his motivation to use the positive aspects of his fame for good.
Ronaldo has just been made Global Ambassador for Save The Children and revealed that he is relishing the opportunity.
“Many people look at me and think they know me but they don’t at all,” commented the footballer this week.
“This is the real me. I am a humble person, a feeling person. A person who cares about others, who wants to help others. And I want to be involved in doing that for many, many, many years.
“When I learned that one in seven kids around the world goes to bed hungry each night, I jumped at the chance to get involved.
“My father always taught me that when you help other people, then God will give you double.
“And that’s what has really happened to me. When I have helped other people who are in need, God has helped me more.
“So I’m proud of what I have done. But I don’t need to come out and say ‘I helped this, I helped that’ because God knows everything and I feel very comfortable about that.
When I go home and my mum says: ‘Son, you have done a good act in helping other people. It’s good that you are interested in how the world lives.’
“Do you understand that it is so nice to hear things like that from people who are so important to me?
“I feel great when I do something good for other people.
“Does my fame make the difference? Exactly. All around the world I have to deal with my fame.
“I can’t go anywhere without being recognised, which can be very hard — but doing this, I can use that fame. It is such a great feeling.
“This is what I want to do when I finish my career, to do something in the future even bigger than this.”
“A few months ago, I went to a hospital in Portugal for kids with cancer. That was very, very tough. When I’m in there I’m in shock. I feel so sad, I feel so bad. It is difficult to look at them — they are so small, they have no hair, they are so sick.
“You know some of them are going to die. And I see their fathers next to them. Again, you put yourself in their position.
“It puts everything into perspective — it makes me realise my problems are nothing, NOTHING compared to these people.
“And when I leave the hospital I am full of energy because these kids give me life lessons like that all the time.
“So I like to go and try to make these people happy, make a better moment for them if only for one or two hours.
“Hopefully it’s something they will remember for the rest of their lives. And it’s certainly something I will never forget.”
Ronaldo reflected that the 2004 Indonesian tsunami was a turning point for him.
“I was there to visit the place and hear the people’s story. So many people died it was incredible. More than 200,000.
“You have to have a strong mind to cope when you see something like that and then compare it to the happiness in your own life… You just hope it never happens again.
“It meant such a lot to me to be involved, to speak with people and give them motivation to rebuild their lives and homes because it must be so hard to start again.
“Save the Children is amazing and I so want to be involved. Children are the most important part of our future. But look what’s happening around the world — it is crazy.
“When you see some of the things on the news it is very worrying — I can’t understand how this poverty and suffering still exists.
“I wonder how so many kids in this world still have to live like that, how many kids die every day because they have no food, no water. This can’t continue. We have to fight against it.
“Listen I’m not going to change the world, you’re not going to change the world. But we can help, we can all help.
“We can battle to make sure this is not going to happen again in the next generation.”
