Mum of missing rugby player Levi Davis makes emotional plea for his safe return
Mum of missing bisexual rugby player Levi Davis makes desperate plea for him to come home (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
The mum of bisexual rugby player Levi Davis, who was reported missing after travelling to Spain more than a week ago, has made a desperate plea for him to come home.
The 24-year-old rugby player and former X Factor contestant was reportedly last seen at The Old Irish Pub in Barcelona on 29 October.
His mother Julie, 51, spoke to Good Morning Britain to share a desperate plea for Davis to come home, sharing an email address that the family had set up to collect information on his whereabouts.
“Levi, please son, if you see this message please, please get in touch,” she said on the ITV show.
“I can’t begin to understand how you’re feeling, but just know that I do love you, and our family loves you, we just want you home.”
Julie said Davis had been struggling with his mental health, and had told her “I need to just sort my head out and have some time to refresh myself”.
She added: “I think given the state he was in, I think he’s probably deteriorated.”
'I can't begin to understand how you're feeling but just know that I do love you'
The Mother of missing rugby player & X Factor star Levi Davis makes a plea to him to come home & if anyone sees him get in touch.
Levi was last seen at The Old Irish Pub in Barcelona on Oct 29th. pic.twitter.com/YFEWEZEuuU
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 8, 2022
His mother told The Sun that the former Bath and England player had been “quite down”, and left to go to Barcelona suddenly, without taking his medication with him.
Julie told the newspaper: “Levi has been quite down lately and the manner in which he has disappeared has left us all very worried.
“He left everything behind in Ibiza and just upped and left… He told me he wanted some space to clear his mind and left behind medication he was taking.”
Former teammates have also shared messages of concern, with former England rugby star Tom Varndell stating that the support from the public has been “fantastic”.
“Thank you to everyone who has made contact regarding Levi Davis… The support has been fantastic,” he wrote on Twitter, before sharing a plea to get in touch with information.
Thank you to everyone who has made contact regarding Levi Davis. The support has been fantastic. If there is anyone else that may have had contact or seen him in Barcelona in the last 5 days please message here or contact the West Midlands police— Tom Varndell (@Tom_Varndell) November 7, 2022
Davis became the first professional rugby union player to come out as LGBTQ+ in September 2020, saying he had overcome a “sense of shame” to come out to his teammates as bisexual.
“I had hidden it well but I couldn’t keep it secret any longer… I had to tell them, all of them, not just a few. I didn’t want it to turn into Chinese whispers,” he said at the time.
He added they had playfully teased him after he opened up about his sexuality.
“Then they began taking the p**s in a good-natured way, which I was relieved about,” he added.
“If they had been too tender-hearted, I would have been worried. I’m still a rugby player, after all!”
In an interview with PinkNews he said he hadn’t planned coming out when he did, but that his team was “massively proud” of him for doing so.
“Rugby has been painted as a man’s sport, but that’s just the tradition of it – it’s changing, the face of it is changing,” he said.
“I can only say what I know, and my experience of coming out was only positive… Rugby is absolutely ready to welcome anyone from the LGBTQ+ community.”
