‘Teenagers say they want to look like me,’ says bodybuilding 69-yr-old who claims it saved her after son’s horror attack

MEET the 69-year-old competitive bodybuilder who’s beating women decades younger on stage.

Retired paralegal, Sher Wilson, from British Columbia, Canada, claims the sport "saved her life" after she suffered a traumatic brain injury at the hands of her mentally unwell son, who attacked her with a claw hammer.

After undergoing nine orthopaedic reconstructive surgeries, she was left with terrible mental and physical injuries.

When her son Matthew died suddenly - aged 42 - while serving his prison sentence in July 2021, Sher’s mental health spiralled.

Suffering from acute PTSD, she also lived with agoraphobia and clinical depression.

In late 2022, she returned to the gym, severely overweight and walking with a cane.

She says: "By this point, I just wanted to die. 

“I was sick of being unwell and tired. When I took up bodybuilding again, it literally saved my life.”

This April, Sher competed and placed first in both the Open Division of Female Bodybuilding and the Masters Division (over 45s) in the Canadian Physique Association, in Victoria, BC.

She weighed in at 10st 7lbs.

Her transformation from 15st 8lbs in just 18 months was incredible.

Sher says: “The dream of presenting on stage and proving to those who judged, refused to acknowledge the depth of my injuries and difficulties to smile and show off my 100 scars, standing tall with my ageing skin, felt amazing.

“I didn’t care that I was competing against younger women with tighter skin, no scars from child-birthing or reconstructive surgeries.

“I wanted to prove I could compete."

At the age of 45, Sher was first inspired to enter competitive bodybuilding after seeing a photo of her trainer, then 24, in a bikini on stage.

She remembers: “My trainer told me that when we get older, our skin changes so it’s probably not a good idea at my age.

“Having someone tell me I couldn’t do something gave me immense motivation. I hired someone else the next day.”

In November 1999, Sher competed for the first time aged 46. 

Out of seven others, she placed third.

After that, she hired a female pro athlete and competed in another eight competitions.

She earned multiple first places and two ‘Best poser’ awards, and a third placing at the Canadian Nationals in 2000.

A 'barrage of blows'

Tragically, a year later, Sher’s son Matthew, then 24, suffered a brain injury after being attacked.

After three months in a coma, he was eventually transferred to a rehab centre where he underwent speech therapy and learned to walk again.

Sher says: “After three months he was released into my care. But he’d been left deaf in one ear, with double vision and severe memory loss.”

One day, out of the blue, Matthew punched Sher when she refused to give him another cigarette.

He was arrested and jailed for 18 months in a psychiatric institute.

Matthew was released to a group home, but weeks later, during a visit to Sher’s home, he told her he didn't want to return.

She says: “That morning, I was lying on my bed when Matthew lay behind me.

“Suddenly, he put a knife to my throat.

“We wrestled with the blade, until it broke, but not before it sliced my left hand.”

Sher escaped out of the front door.

Matthew was arrested and jailed for a further eight months.

Sher says: “Friends warned me he’d kill me if I let him back in again. But he was my son, I couldn’t turn my back on him.”

When he was released in 2010, Sher kept knives in a bag in the wardrobe and slept with a chair against the bedroom door. 

Years later, in February 2018, Matthew suffered another psychotic episode that nearly claimed Sher's life.

Out of nowhere, while Sher was working on her laptop, Matthew attacked her with a claw hammer.

She says: “His eyes were black, as though something evil had taken over him.

“He told me, ‘today is the day you die’ before raining down a barrage of blows on my body.”

Sher eventually managed to escape and was airlifted to hospital.

Meanwhile Matthew was arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

X-rays revealed Sher had multiple fractures in her fingers, hands and arms and had endured a traumatic brain injury.

The following year, Matthew pleaded guilty and was jailed for four years.

Sher says: "I was tormented by what he’d done to me. I knew he needed to be punished but I loved him deeply.”

'Bodybuilding was the answer'

As Sher tried to move on, she felt suicidal and was diagnosed with PTSD.

Tragically, in July 2021, Matthew died in prison.

She says: “My world collapsed and I didn’t want to carry on living.

“But eventually I had to do something drastic for my physical and mental health.

“And bodybuilding was the answer.”

Now, Sher trains around four times a week and plans to weight train for as long as her body allows.

She says: “People in the gym are surprised to learn my age.

“When I tell them I turn 70 in a couple of months they seem truly impressed.”

Sometimes, other gym goers ask her for tips on training.

She adds: “I had a 19-year-old girl tell me last week that she wants to look like me. It was a great compliment.”

When asked what keeps her motivated, she says: “My son, Matthew’s little voice pops into my head saying he’s proud of me and that he loves me.

“If I’m having a down day, that keeps me going.”