INCREDIBLE HULK
ON the outside, child bodybuilder Richard Sandrak seemed on top of the world at the age of eight as he raked in a fortune with his incredible physique.
Dubbed "Little Hercules" with an eight-pack abdomen squeezed into a tiny frame, Richard is now unrecognisable as an adult.
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While his mega-muscles earned him thousands as a young boy, his childhood had a dark side.
Richard, who was born in Ukraine and grew up in the US, was able to bench-press three times his own body weight as a youngster.
He also used his incredible flexibility to master of karate and bend his body into unfeasibly contorted positions.
But Richard's childhood was marred by a difficult relationship with his dad Pavel.
Pavel – a martial arts world champion from Ukraine - was in charge of his fitness regime.
Richard was pulling in thousands of dollars a month - but he later confessed to having an isolated childhood in which he was controlled by his abusive father, ABC reports.
Richard began on light exercises but soon he began intensive training with his dad that included 600 press-ups and sit ups a day, as well as 300 squats.
He reportedly trained six or seven hours a day and it was revealed he did not attend school but was instead home schooled.
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His parents took him to celebrity fitness trainer and promoter Frank Giardina and his wife, Sherry, a former Ms. Fitness America, hoping to launch a career for their son.
When Giardina met Richard, he said was shocked by the boy's physique.
Richard was unveiled at a bodybuilding competition as "Little Hercules" and became an instant celebrity, appearing on TV and in magazines.
He endorsed a line of supplements and became the main attraction at bodybuilding events.
His fame resulted in him being the subject of a documentary entitled "The World's Strongest Boy" in 2004.
When he was 11, Pavel was sent to prison for domestic abuse against Richard’s mum.
At that point he cut all ties with his dad and stopped bodybuilding.
Richard is now six feet tall and though he doesn’t have his former physique, he still exercises regularly.
Despite his childhood obsession, he told Inside Edition: "No, I don't lift weights. If anything it just got boring.
"I’m very proud of my past.
"It’s not something I don’t want people to know, it’s just that I’m not going to be stuck living in it."
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Richard also revealed his dream job is a “quantum scientist” or “maybe specifically maybe even an engineer for NASA”.
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