Robert Mugabe was known to many as a dictator but not many knew the tough life he lived before he became president.

Apart from coming from a dysfunctional family, his marriage to Sally Mugabe was not as rosy.

1. Robert Mugabe lost his two brothers.

Mugabe is reported to have had two older brothers when he was a young boy, both of whom died while they were still only children.

2. Father abandoned them

Around the time of the second child’s death aged 10, his father abandoned the family in 1934.

3. Lost his only sister Bridget

Mugabe lost his only sister in 2014 after almost four years in a coma.

4. Arrested

Mugabe was imprisoned for ten years during his first marriage to the late Sally Mugabe due to his political activities in the 1960s and 1970s.

5. Survived two assassination attempts

During campaigns in the '80s, Mugabe survived two assassination attempts.

In the first, which took place on 6 February, a grenade was thrown at his Mount Pleasant home, where it exploded against a garden wall.

In the second attempt, on 10 February, a roadside bomb exploded near his motorcade as he left a Fort Victoria rally.

6. Forced to resign

Mugabe was forced to resign as Zimbabwe’s leader days after the army staged a coup in November 2017.

He died aged 95.