Terry Crews On How He Did Everything To Protect His Mother

Dec 26, 2018

Actor, public speaker, and activist Terry Crews recently shared a heartbreaking story from his childhood.

Crews shared that his earliest memory is of his father hitting his mother. His mother crumbled to the floor in front of Crews. Thinking that his dad said he loved his mom, Crews wondered, "what is he gonna do to me?"

Crews wanted badly to protect his mother. He knew what he saw was wrong and knew that he had to be strong for his mother. He knew that he had to do what he could to protect her.

He never knew what would happen when he got home. He would wake up and hear glass breaking, crazy sounds, and both parents screaming. Crews lived in a nightmare for several years

One day, Crews' mom came into his room and told him, "We're leaving. Pack our stuff, we're outta here."

Then his mom would come back in and say, "Where am I gonna go?" Terry told his mom, let's go anywhere! He knew that as long as they left, his dad could no longer traumatize them. But his mom wasn't able to.

They stayed, and his dad would terrorize them both, forever.

Crews knows now that his mom wanted to leave, but she must've felt hopeless. Terry knew from that day on that he had to do better. He knew that he would never be that kind of man.

After Crews became a parent himself, he realized that he had adopted some of the behaviors that he had developed from the trauma of his upbringing. He realized he had to get better.

Though he grew up watching the physical and emotional violence his mom experienced, he found that he would yell at his daughter.

He woke up at that point: He was a successful man, a wonderful actor, but he realized he wasn't a success on the inside. He wondered how people end up in that situation. How it becomes okay for people to treat others the way he was treated by his father, the way others are treated every day.

Crews noted how important it is for people to talk about their issues. They need to come out about what they're facing.

There is no shame in being a victim, Terry shares. "Anyone anywhere can be victimized, and no man, woman, or child should ever put up with being treated as less than a human being."

Crews says that to come out, people need emotional distance, financial distance, and physical distance. Crews' work as an activist is his most important work. He talks about these problems because it's fixable.

What did you think about Terry Crews' remarkable story? Leave your thoughts and make sure to pass it along!