Outside Snooker
At the time of his 1972 triumph at the World Championship, Higgins had no permanent home and by his own account had recently lived in a row of abandoned houses in Blackburn which were awaiting demolition. In one week he had moved into five different houses on the same street, moving down one every time his current dwelling was demolished.
In 1975, Higgins' son Chris Delahunty was born. Higgins's first marriage was to Australian Cara Hasler in April 1975 in Sydney. They had a daughter Christel and divorced. His second marriage was to Lynn Avison in 1980 at a United Reformed Church. They had a daughter Lauren (born late 1980) and son Jordan (born March 1983). They split in 1985 and divorced. In the same year, Higgins began a relationship with Siobhan Kidd, which ended in 1989 after he allegedly hit her with a hairdryer.
He had a long and enduring friendship with Oliver Reed and was a good friend of Jimmy White, with whom he often played exhibition matches.
While not normally noted for his philanthropy, in 1983 Higgins helped a young boy from the Manchester area, a fan of his who had been in a coma for two months. His parents were growing desperate and wrote to Higgins. He recorded his voice on a tape and sent it to the boy with his best wishes. He later visited the boy in hospital, unannounced, and promised that if the boy recovered they would play snooker together. True to his word, once the boy was out, the match was held.
In 1996, Higgins was convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old boy, while in 1997 his then girlfriend Holly Haise stabbed him three times during a domestic argument. He published his autobiography, From the Eye of the Hurricane: My Story, in 2007. Higgins appeared on the Sporting Stars episode of British television quiz The Weakest Link, on 25 July 2009.
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