“I Was Andrew Tate on Steroids”: James O’Keefe on Violence, Shame and Changing His Life

James O’Keefe spent years around gangsters, dealing drugs, fighting and womanising. In his own words, he was “Andrew Tate on steroids.” Today, he’s the founder of Unguarded Warrior, helping people break the patterns that nearly destroyed his life.

James grew up with an alcoholic father, was thrown out of home at 15 and lost his dad soon after. He went on to become a professional MMA fighter and build a successful property business, but the anger and need to prove himself never went away. He talks about the extortion that left him frightened enough to buy a gun, and the £700,000 business deal that ended in a loss so devastating he no longer wanted to live.

Being married to Beverley Knight, one of the UK’s most successful performers, forced James to confront what he believed it meant to be a man. For years, he measured his own worth against an idea of what he should provide. He explains how that pressure shaped his relationship with money, the mistakes he made, and what he had to unlearn to show up as an equal partner.

Few people discussing the manosphere can say they’ve lived the life it sells. James can. We talk about why that version of masculinity appeals to young men, what happens when boys grow up without anyone to guide them, and why he’s now determined to give people a way through the anger he once lived with.

This conversation is about as real and raw as it gets. James is a man on a mission because he knows what can happen when anger and shame are left to run your life. We confront what it takes to face the person you’ve been, take responsibility for your choices and believe you can still become someone different.

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Key moments include:

✔ James describes the violent, womanising version of himself as “Andrew Tate on steroids.”

✔ He explains how his childhood and his father’s alcoholism shaped the anger he carried into adulthood.

✔ James shares what happened when he was targeted for extortion and why he eventually gave the gun back.

✔ He opens up about losing £700,000, the shame that followed and the support Beverley gave him.

✔ We examine the manosphere, the appeal of toxic masculinity and what young men need from real role models.