During an interview with Portuguese outlet Tribuna Expresso, football ‘hard man’ Pepe revealed that he slept in the same bed as his mother until he was 17 report the Daily Mail.
Pepe was born in the state of Alagoas in Brazil and according to the Portugal international he has a ‘very, very spoiled’ childhood.
When Pepe turned 18 he decided to fly the nest and moved to Portugal to join Maritimo leaving his family behind.
The 38-year-old revealed that he was mollycoddled by his mother before taking the plunge to enter the big bad world when he set off for Portugal.
When asked how spoiled he was Pepe said: ‘Until I came to Portugal, at the age of 17, I slept with my mother, so imagine what it was.’
Then posed the question what his father thought about it, Pepe – who currently stands at 6ft 2in tall – added: ‘Hey man, I was already big and I slept with my parents, so I imagine my father would not like to have me there.
‘This is interesting: the other day I was talking to my mother and she was telling me that I really liked to run my hand through her hair, take it, and I told her that maybe I already knew it would be a lot of time away from her.
‘That I, a boy who slept with his mother until he was 18, could win three Champions [laughs] Look, I never imagined it, it’s true.’
Pepe has since developed a reputation of being a ‘hard man’ and is renowned for his robust defensive style and ability to be bit of a wind up.
The veteran defender says he was offered a place in the Premier League and explained why he chose to return to Portugal instead of heading off to the glittering lights of England’s top tier league.
‘I could have gone to England,’ he continued. ‘I had clubs that offered me a lot of money, but the opportunity arose to return to Porto – and, at my age, it was either then, or never. I chose to go back to a club I like, where I was treated well, I spoke with Sergio Conceicao.