(AllHipHop News) Boxer-turned-actor Mike Tyson has revealed a childhood molestation turned him into a fighting machine.
The “Hangover” star was talking about his challenging childhood in Brooklyn, New York during an ESPN E:60 interview with old pal Jeremy Schapp when he let slip he had been the victim of a local pervert who dragged him into a building and “molested” him.
Tyson immediately tried to change the subject but Schapp persisted, revealing that in all their pre and post-fight chats over the years, the fighter had never opened up about the drama.
“It was nobody’s business to know,” Tyson said, becoming defensive. “It doesn’t make me any less of a man, because it happened. It’s just something that happened, not a big impact in my life.”
But the former champion then told Schapp the experience, his childhood bullies and the gangs that ruled his neighborhood, inspired Tyson to toughen up, develop a thick skin and hit the gym.
The unusually candid star had to stop the interview with the sports reporter at one point as he teared up while recalling his late mentor C## D’Amato, who took charge of Tyson’s boxing career when the sportsman was a teenager.
D’Amato died in 1985.
