This vision is in a new documentary that will be released by the British Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday. In it, Farah claims that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he was born in Somaliland.
“Although I have said before, my parents did not live in England,” Farah told the BBC.
After his father was killed in a civil war when he was just four years old, his family “split up.” Somaliland seceded from war-torn Somalia in 1991, but was never recognized as a sovereign state.
“I left my mother and entered England illegally under the name of another boy named Mohammed Farah,” he said in an interview clip.
He said he was forced to “do homework and childcare” upon arrival.
Years later, he was finally allowed to go to school, where he told the PE teacher about the situation. The teacher contacted social services and Farah moved in with a Somali foster family.
“I still miss my real family but everything has improved since then,” he told the BBC.
A.D. Farah, who was granted British citizenship in 2000, says the race saved him from slavery.
CNN contacted Farah’s representatives for comment.