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Podcast Summary: The Ed Mylett Show - How to Rewrite Your Story and Overcome Life’s Hardest Challenges w/ Titus O’Neil
Episode Overview In this episode, Ed Mylett interviews Titus O’Neil, also known as Thaddeus Bullard, a WWE Hall of Famer, philanthropist, and author. The conversation explores Titus's traumatic beginnings, his journey from adversity to success, and the vital lessons he learned along the way. The episode is filled with powerful messages about resilience, forgiveness, and the importance of belief.
Key Themes and Discussions
- Titus O’Neil's Early Life
- Trauma and Adversity:
- Titus was conceived from a sexual assault when his mother was just 11 years old.
- His mother chose to give him life despite the circumstances, which shaped much of Titus's perspective on resilience.
- Childhood Challenges:
- Growing up, he faced chaos and feelings of insignificance.
- He was often told he would end up dead or in jail.
- Impact of Mentorship
- Significant Figures:
- Patrick Minogue, the youth ranch director, played a pivotal role in Titus’s life, teaching him that "there's no such thing as a bad kid" and instilling belief in him.
- Change of Trajectory:
- His time at the Florida Sheriff's Boys Ranch transformed his life, leading him to excel academically and athletically.
- Belief and Forgiveness
- Power of Belief:
- Titus emphasizes how impactful the belief of others can be, stating phrases like “I believe in you” can change a life.
- Forgiveness as Liberation:
- He discusses the importance of letting go of anger towards his mother and understanding her struggles, which paved the way for healing their relationship.
- Fatherhood and Legacy
- Adopting a Daughter:
- Titus adopted a daughter, Lulia, and shares how fatherhood has redefined him.
- Lessons on Parenting:
- He discusses the importance of open communication with children and providing them with explanations rather than authoritative commands.
- Breaking Generational Curses:
- His experiences drive him to break the cycle of trauma and advocate for the youth, emphasizing the need for understanding in parenting.
- Resilience and Rewriting Your Story
- Life's Challenges:
- Titus mentions that he has faced multiple setbacks, including the end of his football career and divorce, but views these as opportunities for growth rather than failures.
- Embracing Change:
- He encourages listeners to view transitions and losses as chances to rebuild and reinvent themselves.
- Success in WWE and Beyond
- Attitude Over Talent:
- Titus shares insights into the competitive nature of WWE, asserting that attitude and respect for everyone, regardless of their position, is crucial for success.
- Finding Your Purpose:
- He believes that one's purpose can be discovered through experiences, and everyone has a unique story that contributes to their identity.
Key Takeaways
- Your Story Doesn't Define You: It's your decisions and actions that shape your identity and future.
- Mentorship Matters: The support and belief of mentors can change the course of someone's life.
- Forgiveness is Essential: Letting go of anger leads to healing and personal growth.
- Open Communication in Parenting: Understanding and explaining the reasons behind decisions can foster better relationships with children.
- Resilience is Key: Life’s challenges are opportunities for growth; embrace them and adapt.
Conclusion Titus O’Neil's extraordinary journey from a traumatic childhood to becoming a successful WWE Hall of Famer and a dedicated father exemplifies the power of resilience, belief, and the impact of mentorship. His story serves as a motivational reminder that our past does not dictate our future, and with the right mindset, anyone can rewrite their narrative.
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For further insight and in-depth reflections, be sure to listen to the full episode and consider picking up Titus's book, "Wrestling with Fatherhood."
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:28So, hey guys, listen, we're all trying to get more productive. $10 ,000 worth of courses that are in there that come with the app. Also, some of the top influencers in the world are all posting content in there on a regular basis, like having the Avengers of personal development and business in one app. And I'm honored that he asked me to be a part of it as well and contribute on a weekly basis, and I do. So go over there and get signed up. You're going to get a free tuition-free voucher to go to an event with Brendan and myself and a bunch of other influencers as well, so you get a free event out of it also.
0:53So go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.
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2:16This is The Ed Myron Show. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. Well, today I thought I had the deepest voice in all of podcasting, but I think you're about to hear a deeper one. We were just joking about that off camera. My guest today I have wanted to talk to for a long time after seeing him speak. And obviously I've watched him on TV for so many years. Most of you know him as Titus O 'Neill, but I know him as an all-time W.E. Hall of Famer. He's a philanthropist. He's an author of a book that we're going to talk about today. And one of the most incredible stories you will ever hear in your life.
2:52You're about to hear right now in the next hour I'm going to spend with Thaddeus Bullard. So Thaddeus, welcome to the show, my friend. Good to have you. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, I'm glad I beat you in something in the doors to having the deepest voice on the podcast. Well, I've also stood next to you and I'm a pretty big dude, but it's not even close. You beat me a lot of different things. This is one of the biggest men and strongest men you will ever meet in your life. And we might as well get into it. It's a perfect segue because I can't I want to get right into your story because it's it's frankly, it's awe-inspiring and it's like out of a movie it's in fact it'll be a movie so um I gotta ask you about this so I've watched you forever you know you and I both talked off camera I have a lot of friends in the WWE I've had many of the wrestlers on uh Stephanie McMahon's been on um Kristen Prouty worked there for a long time as one of my dearest friends and I did not know your story and so it required tremendous internal strength to become who you are not just the external physical strength you've had.
3:52So would you tell us kind of the, your whole story is incredible, but you know where I'm going with this about fatherhood, which is going to be a major topic of today's show, fatherhood and life. But talk about your own journey and learning about how you were even conceived. Cause it's just, it's just shocking. Yeah. So, uh, I I'm the product of a sexual assault. Uh, my mother was raped at 11 years old, had me at the age of 12. Uh, she was driven from St. Augustine, Florida, which is up by where you are in Ponte Vita, down to Boynton Beach, Florida, to have an abortion. And she jumped out of the car and months later, I was born.
4:30And life was very difficult for me in a lot of different ways. My mother was a very young mother trying to raise kids, working. And I didn't realize this. And a lot of things that were, you know kind of unrealistic to think about growing up as a kid but then once I started writing my first book uh which you know is is there's no such thing as a bad kid um that those words are uttered to me at 12 years old I went to a place not too far away from uh from St. Augustine and called Live Oak Florida uh and there I went to the Florida Sheriff's Boys Ranch and that place changed my life. And more importantly, a conversation at 12 years old, when I was essentially destined to go back home to Boynton Beach, where, you know, there's me and my mom had a horrible relationship as a kid.
5:27And I say all the time, I hated my mom for a greater part of my young adult life until, you know, my mother came up, you know, the conversation happened with Patrick Minogue, who was the youth ranch director at the time. I had just signed a contract that I wouldn't get into another fight. And 30 minutes later, I got into another fight. And the decision had been made that I would be sent home to Boynton Beach, Florida. And Patrick Minogue called me into the room. And I had my head down and he said, you know, the decision's been made for you to be sent home. As you know, you signed a contract that you wouldn't get into any more fights.
6:07And, you know, here we are. He said, I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to give me an honest answer. He said, why do you think you get into trouble all the time? And I had my head down and I said, I don't know, man, I'm just a bad kid. And he said, lift your head up. He said, there's no such thing as a bad kid. And I looked at him and I said, how can you say that? You know, I've been told I'll be dead or in jail by the time I was 16. I'll never graduate from high school, which at that point, no one in my family had graduated from high school. I'll never go to college. I'm too uncoordinated to play sports.
6:41The list went on and on and on. And he said that he's not going to give me the answer because he truly believes that I'm going to turn things around and I'm going to figure out the answer for myself. In the meantime, I want to tell you something and I want you to believe it. He said, I love you and I believe in you. And a lot of people had told me that they loved me at that point. And they turned around and abused me, beat me, curse me, et cetera. Nobody had ever told me that they believed in me in any regards. I was never going to be. I was never going to do. I was very insufficient to so many people at that time.
7:17And insignificant to a lot of people at that time. There's a lot so far to unpack. So first off, guys, the book that he has is called Wrestling with Fatherhood, the new book. You need to go get it. It's not just about being a dad. It's about being a leader, being a human being, being a compassionate person who makes a difference. But I want to go back because it's your story. But for about two million people right now, they just heard it. What in the world did he just say? So let's go. Let's just unpack this just for a second. Did you hear what he said, everyone? His mother, he's conceived from basically a sexual assault of an 11-year-old.
7:55And his mom's a 12-year-old mother. But there's a little part of that that hasn't come out yet that I want you to talk about. You did not know that the better part of your childhood. This didn't come out till later. So I want you to imagine this. There's this precious little boy who is the product of a sexual assault, was going to be aborted, sideways relationship. His mother was a child trying to raise him. And you were raised with all this turmoil, which we're going to go back to, especially the boys' ranch that you went to, because we're going to meet in the middle on something there. But how old were you when you finally found this out?
8:30and what was that like? That had to be a moment of shock to hear this and obviously wondering why you weren't told sooner. Yeah, I was told at 17 years old at the boys' ranch. I essentially didn't end up getting sent home. Mr. Minogue said, I'm going to go against the wishes of a lot of people and it's probably going to piss a lot of people off, but I love you and I believe in you and I think that you're going to turn things around. And I ended up supposedly was going to stay there for 18 months and I stayed there for five years, not because I was bad, but because it was the best place for me to learn and grow.
9:04I went from being an underserved kid, underperforming kid, to being one of the top high school players in the country. And my mom came up. I'm 17 years old. She came up. Normally with the youth ranches, they try to keep the parents and the kids kind of separate except for around holidays, simply because while the kids are getting help at the youth ranch, so are the parents getting counseling and et cetera, so that when they both come back together, they both have a better understanding of how to have a better parent-child relationship. And so my mom came up. We were sitting in Mr. Minogue's office, and it was Mr.
9:44Minogue, Patrick Bouchard, and my mother. And I remember her holding back tears. And she said, I wanted to share something with you. And, uh, she said, you know, Charles isn't your dad. And, and Charles is, is a, is a guy, um, that I knew he wasn't my dad, but he was trying, you know, and, uh, me and my brothers, I have three younger brothers and they all, my three younger brothers have the same father, but a different father than me. I kind of grew up with their dad, but I didn't have much respect for him as a father and as a man because of the stuff that I witnessed at home. But Charles was, you know, someone that my dad, my mom had dated for a bit, but I'd never felt like he was my dad.
10:38And she said, you know, I was raped and that's how you came into this world. I remember just being silent for at least like 30 seconds because I'm like, I'm shocked. My mom asked me how I was feeling and I'm kind of reliving it now as I'm speaking about it. And I asked her, was she okay? She said, I'll be okay. She said, are you okay? And then I said, no, not really. Do you know who it was? and she said yes I know who it was would you like to meet him and I said I said no um because I'd probably kill him and at that moment you know I'm 17 years old I'm at the top of the world I'm a honor roll student I'm a the one of the top players in the country I could go to any school in the country and I get hit with this news.
11:40And as I tell people all the time, you know, growing up, I hated my mom for a lot of reasons. Once she disclosed how I came into this world, all that hate that I had towards my mom instantly turned into love because I realized that my mom was a kid trying to raise kids. and even to this day um i understand because of that conversation at 17 years old my drive and my passion for so many things like especially with youth is through the roof simply because number one i was one of these kids that i'm trying to help serve but number two my mom never got a chance to go to a prom she never got a chance to walk across the high school graduation stage My mom never did a lot of things that 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 year old kids should have the opportunity to do.
12:38And it really shaped my mindset when it comes to kids in general. And people know that know me, you know, I help a lot of people. But kids are definitely, they're everything to me. My kids, your kids, everybody's kids, simply because as a kid, as an eight-year-old kid, the things that I had to endure and see didn't realize as I got older and a late teen that my mom, the things that I, even as bad as the things that I had to endure at 11 years old, I never had to deal with what my mom had to deal with. you're helping people on a lot of levels right now. And, but one of them as a child, myself of, uh, some dysfunction, let's just say that with my dad and drugs and alcohol, people ask me often, you know, how are you able to forgive your dad?
13:31Um, when my dad earned it, my dad got sober, but even prior to that, you know, those of you that have been harmed by somebody, maybe give them grace, even if it's invisible grace and you can't tell them because you don't know what they've gone through. And for them to be acting out towards you the way they are, they're a child of God too. Something's happened to them. Hurt people hurt people. And in our lives, it's really important that we give people grace. I mean, who would have imagined that this precious little girl at 11 years old is violated that bad? From that moment on, you almost can't judge and assess somebody's behavior from that point.
14:09I can't even imagine what that's like to lose your childhood like that. So everybody just pick that one part of the story apart. I want to ask you a couple things about all of this before we even shift because there's going to be a bunch of lessons about life, guys, not just fatherhood here today. But I want to jump back on something that you said earlier because it's part of the work that I do. By the way, just to meet in the middle with you just because we've got to know each other a little bit recently. My first job that I spent most of my career with young was I worked at a boys camp. Your story reminds me of my boys.
14:41My boys were all actually removed from their families from sexual assaults or their parents were incarcerated or dead. So it's interesting that the two of us end up here today together to help some people. So hey guys, I want to jump in here for a second and talk about change and growth. And you know, by the way, it's no secret how people get ahead in life or how they grow. And also taking a look at the future. If you want to change your future, you got to change the things you're doing. If you continue to do the same things, you're probably going to produce the same results. But if you get into a new environment where you're learning new things and you're around other people that are growth oriented, you're much more likely to do that yourself.
15:15And that's why I love Growth Day. Write this down for a second, growthday.com forward slash ed. My friend Brendan Brouchard has created the most incredible personal development and business app that I've ever seen in my life. Everything from goal setting software to personal accountability, journaling, courses, thousands of dollars worth of courses in there as well. I create content in there on Mondays where I contribute as do a whole bunch of other influencers like the Avengers of influencers and business minds in there. It's the Netflix for high achievers or people that want to be high achievers.
15:45So go check it out. My friend Brennan's made it very affordable, very easy to get involved. Go to growthday.com forward slash ed. That's growthday.com forward slash ed.
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16:37When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp. The secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th. And never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end-to-end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone. Learn more at whatsapp.com. But I want to know about this belief thing, because I think a lot of parents, a lot of people, a lot of leaders neglect to ever tell somebody that they love them. Love is like almost this word you hear it so often.
17:18I don't even know if it feels anything anymore. Belief, even like your spouse, to have a spouse who believes in you, not just loves you. That's like a different level altogether. I'm wondering your thoughts about belief in people and your intentionality about that and how it affected you beyond just love but belief because that's a to me that's a much deeper level. I think it really, for me, comes down to my relationship with God. And I think everybody has their interpretation or their own relationship with God. I was introduced to the church as a youth. I went to church all the time, but I never really understood a lot of things in regards to relationships with Christ because even in the church, things are manipulated.
18:01The Bible's manipulated. People are, in my opinion, you know, kind of feel like they walk out of there convicted every Sunday if they're dealing with certain things or whatever. And I know that there are a lot of believers that live throughout the globe, but I don't think there are a lot of people of faith. What's the difference? To me, you know, people of faith move on action. They move with love. They move with obedience. and obedience is greater than sacrifice. I learned that at a very young age that sometimes what we feel like we're sacrificing, when it comes to God, there is no sacrifice because he has already told us in Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I have for you are thoughts of great things, you know, and a great ending.
18:51And so I don't need all the details to move on what God's told me to do. And before, even as a kid, you know, it was that I love you and I believe in you message that stuck with me so much. Because as you said before, a lot of people don't really get told that they are believed in or that people have faith in them. And if I say I have faith in God, then I can't respond to world issues the same way everybody else does. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to politics. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to religion. I can't be far right or far left when it comes to sexual orientation or any of that stuff.
19:37Because for me, so many people invested in me when they had nothing to gain in return from all different walks and all different backgrounds, that I have no fight or skin in the game when it comes to being anything less than a great human being. And I think when people know that you believe in them and that you believe in what they can do, it gives them a strength and a courage to go out and try something that they normally wouldn't try. Your testimony, my testimony, like sometimes I think even for me at a certain point in my life, I was kind of hesitant to tell my story because I didn't want to be viewed a certain way that I was weak, you know.
20:18But I'm vulnerable to the obedience of God. I have submitted, you know, like I don't have to be perfect. Nobody in this world has to be perfect at anything. We all serve a perfect will and God has a perfect will and a purpose for all of us. I got empowered by knowing that this homeless guy at 13 years old telling me that God's going to use you in a mighty way. And at that time I was on a football field and I'm walking and I said, well, man, yeah, I want to go to the NFL. I want to make a lot of money so I can help a lot of people. And he said, no, it has nothing to do with the NFL. It has everything to do with you.
21:02For a guy that's essentially homeless, for some people, they look at that situation as hopeless. For me, a couple of weeks later, I come to ask him, how did you end up in this situation? And he said, if I told you I was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, I had a big home, a yacht, a beautiful family, would you believe me? And I said, I would have no choice. Like, if that's what you told me. And he said, that's exactly what my life used to be. But drugs, alcohol, and gambling ripped me away from my family. And, you know, as I think about like how believing in someone, I believe that this guy who spoke life into me at a time in which I didn't know him.
21:50He didn't know me. So I ended up speaking life into him as well, as, as well as asking one of my teammates who dad was a very successful businessman and trying to help him not only get reintroduced to the church because his, my teammate wanted me to go to his church all the time, but he was Catholic and I didn't know that. and he had always, you know, he'd always wanted to get back and go to church. And so since I had this invitation to go to church, you know, I asked if I could invite, you know, this gentleman to church. And next thing you know, he's going from going to church to now working for my teammates, dad, to getting back on his feet, to being reconnected with his wife.
22:29Although they, she had moved on and got married. He hadn't seen his kids in like three years. is God used me at 13 years old to help this person that told me that God is going to use me for mighty things. Let me ask you a question. The belief thing, everybody, I want to just put a bow on that. If you ask the average person, hey, who's loved you in your life? I bet that you could name 10, 12, 15 different people that have loved you. Grandma, grandpa, coaches, your sisters, your brothers. But if I asked you who's believed in you, I bet that list is shorter. and when you believe in somebody, you are, you fit on one hand in their life more than likely, where they really feel your belief.
23:09And that is a deep difference you make as a father, as a mother, as a friend. I'm not just a friend of my friends. I let them know I believe in them. And then I let them know why I believe in them as a leader in business. And I just want you all just to just take that one piece of this away. Here's a big question for you, brother. By the way, remember this, this man goes on to be dominant college football player at university of Florida ends up eventually in the WWE. He's a Hall of Famer in the WWE. So imagine this. One of the great all-time Hall of Famers in the WWE was conceived in a sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl.
23:44Now, what can you accomplish in your life if that's where this man comes from? He's talking about church. He doesn't just walk the walk. He's actually in the studio at his church right now as we're talking. So the other thing, people literally, they fall down. They don't know what the heck they're going to do, right? and getting up is its own story. And I'm just going to let you take the floor on this because it's one of my all-time favorite stories. Like when I was prepping for the interview and talking to our mutual friend at WWE, I'm like, I got to ask him about this slip and falling story.
24:13So you got to tell Ole Miss and give us kind of like tie it together with what it means. This is crazy. Yeah, so we're in Saudi Arabia. First time we're in Saudi Arabia. We just signed this huge deal with them to bring our entertainment over to Saudi Arabia. And it's the greatest Royal Rumble. and we have legends the undertake we have so many people that are coming in for this show and uh it comes up to my time to run out to the ring uh and i have all the things that i was going to do in my head and i run full speed down and uh i slide right underneath the ring fall slip and fall in front of millions of people under the ring and uh i get under the ring and i'm like oh you know like I can make a decision at that point do I just make it look like it was planned and I stay under there or I come back down and just kind of go through everything and and and I did and come back to the back and everybody first and foremost asked me was I okay am I hurt or whatever and I said no I'm good uh and I looked over at Vince McMahon and I said I get a t-shirt right and he said absolutely and uh you know they they ran we ran with that for so many things i made sports center not top 10 i was ahead of tom brady who stumbled and you know his way into a run as well so i i tell people this all the time like there are folks that you know uh they stub their toe and nobody sees it you know they fall down and and and nobody sees it millions of people saw me slide underneath the rain it was hilarious to so many i thank god that i'm still here i thank god that i have every moving organ in my body um but it's kind of the on brand with my life you know where i've had to fall down get back up fall down get back up and not only get back up but get back up with a smile.
26:17And I think for any listener out there, uh, there are going to be times that you got to, you're going to fall down. It's embarrassing. Uh, you know, and people are going to make fun of you, but at the end of the day, it's how you continue to move forward and how you capitalize off of that, that fall. So good brother. Yeah. So we're showing a clip of it on the YouTube right now. So people can see it, but Hey, if you ever wanted the ultimate life metaphor of you're going to fall down and you got to get back up, it's what this dude did in Saudi Arabia was awesome. Thank you for telling them this is so good.
26:47Yes, sir. But here's what didn't happen to you. And I want to know, I want you to help a couple million people right now with this. How did you not make that your identity? In other words, for most people, brother, they, a trauma in their life becomes like a stamp. That's who I am. I'm the victim. I'm the underdog. I'm always, I'm not this smart. I'm not that my family's that, and they end up with an identity from a trauma. If anybody in the world had an excuse or a reason, and maybe even for a while, you did do that. How does somebody get past their old story? Right? How do they do that? How did you do that?
27:29Well, first and foremost, I think it's a decision that needs to be made that we all have a chance to make every single day. I do this twins exercise with young kids where I basically have a twin A and a twin B. They both come from the exact same background, you know, abused background. Their father was an alcoholic. They got into the foster system. One foster parent, one went to one foster care parent, another went to another foster care family. And one just continuously gets in trouble, goes to jail. We actually had to bail him out for the actual exercise of, you know, these kids getting a chance to interview these two twins.
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28:09They can ask them whatever they want, but they got to be respectful to both sides. The other twin goes off to be this highly successful, great father, great husband, etc. They both come from the same exact environment. And the kids ask at the end of the exercise, you know, why do you think you ended up where you ended up? And they both simultaneously say, well, with a father like mine, I had no other choice. So it is a decision at the end of the day. And sometimes our help comes from a source that we would never imagine it coming from. And some people accept that help and they try to use it and recover and go from it.
28:49And then some choose to stay in that space. And, you know, I shared this on the Pivot podcast. You know, I went through a very deep depression when I got divorced for so many different reasons. Yeah, the loss of the relationship was one thing, but how I grew up, you know, I took a great sense of pride in winning. I've won in every single thing that I've done in life. I've never been on a losing team. And the most important aspect of me is my family. And I lost my family. And I beat myself up for that for quite some time to the point where I was like, you know, I got me a vasectomy. I'm not having any more kids.
29:28I never wanted to have kids outside of wedlock. I grew up in that. You know, and, and I grew up around that. And so I never thought I would be married again. I, you know, I just went again. I kind of minimize every single aspect of myself as a man. And there's a building up process to, to do that. And I think my relationship with, with, with Christ and, and, and just really diving into the word and kind of rediscovering who I am as a person, realizing that I don't have to be perfect, realizing that God chose 12 of the most imperfect breakthrough in the Bible to be disciples. You know what I'm saying?
30:05And they were chosen disciples. The folks that he sat around the table with for the last supper were the worst of the worst. And so I look at, you know, when we go back to this word belief, and that is like a pivotal word and action to me like i you have to believe in yourself you have to believe in god whatever god that is you serve it could be all i can be i serve christ somebody else may serve allah another person may serve buddha other people may say you know uh that they believe in something else and that's fine with me you know i just think that at the end of the day whatever faith you have it should lead you to be a better person.
30:50It should have you lead you to be able to understand who you are as a person so that you can go out and equip other people. I think the greatest gift that we can give to one another is, especially as men, uh, is great discipleship and women too. When you have the ability to grab people from different walks of life in the places that they may not necessarily be at your level and you can disciple them to greater and they can get higher levels than you. But it's, it's, it's really a decision at the end of the day of saying, Hey, this happened to me. This is how I grew up. This is the way I came into this world.
31:29Uh, these are the things that I had to endure, but I'm not the only person that was brought into this world via rape. But I also, as I say this all the time, I try to use every platform to say this because I'm not really one to talk about pro-life, pro-choice. I just know that my mom made a decision that ultimately was very difficult for her to make and our life was difficult. But don't point and look at me and say, well, look how he turned out just based on my circumstance of how I came into the world because I am an anomaly. Everybody that comes into this world like this does not turn out successful.
32:10But I can say that everybody that has tragedy or trauma in their life of any sort has the ability to make things better simply by the switch of a mindset. And however you go about shifting that mindset, whether it's a spiritual shift, whether it's working with a mental health and wellness coach, whether it's just, you know, diving deeper into dealing with your own traumas and your own insecurities, becoming more vulnerable so that you can be more open to all the change that the positive change that can be reactionary in your life because of the actions that you took. All of a sudden you become this insignificant figure in your mind to this very significant figure to other people.
32:58And that's, that's where I'm at in life. Like I'm not trying to be successful. You're Ed, or I mean, you've got a couple million people watching this podcast all the time. You have been very successful as a speaker, very successful as a businessman. And you still have that trauma that you, I'm sure. That's right. Sometimes wants to rear its ugly head and you have to, you know, you have to address it and make a decision. Am I going to allow this to put me in a space when I got all these people around me depending on me, or am I gonna look this son of a bitch in the eye and tell them, you know, I know you're, I know the enemy's plan is to seek to kill and destroy.
33:41And you haven't done it up to this point, I won't let you allow you to do it now. I was thinking about the people in my life when you were talking. So making me a little bit emotional because God sent some people into my life that believed in me. And for some reason, as you were just talking, obviously you had these men at the camp that made a huge difference in your life, right? I mean, obviously they were huge influences. I don't know why I want to ask you about this, but I do because it's just coming up. Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way. You want to sell those wheels?
34:14You want to get a CarMax instant offer? So fast. Want to take a sec to think about it? Or like a month? Wanna keep tabs on that instant offer? With OfferWatch. Wanna have CarMax pick it up from your driveway? You wanna get it, touch it. You wanna do it all. So, wanna drive? CarMax. Pickup not available everywhere. Restrictions and fee may apply. Mutine. Adjective. Used to describe an individual whose spirit is unyielding. Unconstrained. One who navigates life on their own terms. Effortlessly. They do not always show up on time, but when they arrive, you notice an individual confident in their contradictions.
35:00They know the rules, but behave as if they do not exist. Muteen, the new fragrance by Miu Miu, defined by you. What about this man who raised you, though, also? You said that he raised you, I know that you were gone to the camp for a while, But how do you view that he raised another man's child, right? And I assume did his best with you. What's your relationship like with him? And how do you feel him? That's an unselfish act to raise children that, in your case, wasn't his. So Charles Blaylock is the person that essentially kind of took me in as a father figure. He was the first African-American to be superintendent in two different counties in the state of Florida.
35:46He was a FAMU grad. He was a former athlete, and he had three kids himself, two daughters and a son. I played with his son, Chuck, on the football team at Swatty High School. Chuck's a couple years older than I am. And I was walking down the hallways at Swatty High School my ninth grade year, and he's this towering figure, big dude, comes in. I'm palming a basketball. I'm walking down the hallway palming a basketball, and he comes up and he bumps me. and he looks at me and he says do you think you could beat me in a fight and I said what do you mean you know he's looked at me and he said do you think you could beat me in a fight and I don't know who this guy is at the time and I'm like you know I don't know I don't know what your deal is but you know I don't think I can beat you and you're a grown man it's like well you're gonna have to fight me if you don't want to turn your life around because I heard that you're a great kid and I'm going to be attached to your hip.
36:47Wow. From now until eternity. And he absolutely was. Um, I mean, this, and this is the superintendent of schools, you know, um, my first, you know, experience with HBCU football was with him at FAMU, you know, he would take me to homecoming, uh, every year. Uh, he allowed me to stay at his house on the weekends, which was kind of like a new tester program for the youth rents because we all had to stay on campus and he's the only person of two people in in my life that i call dad i still call him dad to this day that's awesome he's also i would say the proponent in me being a father to my daughter who I adopted a few years ago.
37:35What? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. So my daughter, her mother was having, her mother's a very close friend of mine. Carrie's a very close friend of mine. And she was having some health issues. I won't go into depth about those. And, you know, she didn't, she asked me, you know, could you just check on Lulia if things don't go well with this procedure I'm getting ready to have. and uh I said well what's going to happen with her if things don't work out you know because Leah's like at this point one of the top basketball players in the state um and her mom's from Canada and she said well she'll probably have to go back you know home because that's where all my family is and I said well what if I adopted her and she looked at me and she said what and I said yeah I've always wanted to have a daughter I'm not physically able to have any more children uh Vasectomy 2012 is my Bible verse, personal Bible, Bible verse.
38:37And I said, you know, if I had a daughter, you know, Leah, and I've known Leah since she was seven years old. Her and my kid, my two sons, they've known each other. They play with each other. She's been to my house numerous times. And I said, well, let me check with my boys first to make sure they would be okay with this. and talked with TJ and Titus, and they were more than happy to welcome her into the family. Incredible. I remember FaceTiming or calling back, and my daughter, Leah, says, you know, why are you doing this for me? And I said, because I've always wanted a daughter, and if I had a daughter, you would be everything that I would want in a young lady.
39:20And she said, well, you know I'm gay, right? and I said, I don't give a s*** if you purple with streamers flying out of your eyes. I'm not here to make you be a certain way. I'm here to help you be the best version of yourself. And at the end of the day, the biggest and only requirement for you in this family is to be a great human being. And, you know, we started going on this journey and her last name is my last name now. And my gosh, prospering in college. She's at Oakland University playing basketball at Oakland University on scholarship, full scholarship. And I'm extremely proud of her. I'm extremely proud of my oldest son and my youngest son.
40:00My oldest son plays football at the University of Central Florida. And my youngest son, Titus, plays at the University of Florida, my alma mater. And so when I look and when you go back to this entire question of belief and what does belief do? well belief helps you break generational curses uh belief helps you uh be the human being that other people never thought you could be uh belief helps you and positions you for success that you never could have imagined if you tell me that i would be in the wwe hall of fame as a warrior award recipient as a kid i watched it every monday my mom and my grandmother used to fight every Monday night about me staying up late.
40:46My grandmother loved wrestling. And so she always won that argument. And I, you know, because it was a school night. I say this all the time, but my kids saved my life at a time in which I was the most depressed. I felt the least as a man. The worst thing I felt like you could ever go through in life was a divorce. My sons gave me a reason to live and I'm forever grateful to have them in my life and to have them as my sons. I'm extremely proud of them. I'm extremely grateful for them. I'm extremely grateful for my daughter who has given me a completely different perspective on raising women and, and, and having a daughter as a child, as a parent.
41:31I enjoy the fact that I can have conversations with my boys now and I've always been able to have open lines of communication but like at this point now in our in our life like I can my boys have always been able to talk to me about any and everything and I think that parents need to when they're explaining to their children why they should not be doing something don't give them this bullshit answer of because I said so and then get pissed off when two months later or three years later you got to get them out to rehab or you got to bail them out of jail or you got to go to a funeral. Because if you would have answered the questions that they had when you told them not to do something, not to be somewhere, not to hang out with certain people, you give them a reason why, you give them an explanation as to why, while they may not agree with it, they don't have to search somewhere else for that answer.
42:22I just thinking about your story, I was just thinking, I don't know if everyone's hearing this but this this man was conceived the way he is and then ends up being someone who adopts this little girl by the way he's being humble but he was named mega dad of the year he was named celebrity father of the year and when I talked to my friends at the WWE and I know the people that really know in the WWE and I said hey give me the list of the three people I've asked this all the time like the best human beings you know his name came up to me for years and years and years and And what I was seeing was this just like phenomenal athlete.
42:57I had no idea about your story. Then I didn't have any idea until right now that you ended up adopting this little girl and how important fatherhood is to you and being a leader is to you. It's just, you know, sometimes I do the show, brother, and I'm like, I am just not nearly as good a person as some people. And I don't say that with any false sense of humility. Just like you're such a remarkable man. and when I first leave him, okay, God gave him a gift it's clearly his athletic ability and his physique and not knowing that, yeah, it's one of your gifts but your real gift is your heart your real gift is your resiliency and your toughness to overcome the adversity that you've been through can I ask you how your relationship is with your mom now?
43:42My relationship with my mom now is 10 ,000 times better than it was before you know, we still have our challenges, but at the end of the day my mom made a sacrifice um a very courageous sacrifice that i'll ever be indebted to her for i have frustrations with my mom just like any other person has frustrations with their parents when it comes to you know addressing your health or uh you know the way you talk to me sometimes this and that like i'm 47 years old now you're not gonna talk to me like i'm a kid anymore you know what i'm saying um but at the end of the day that's my mother and i will always love her and honor her as my mother.
44:21Um, and I think a lot of people have strained relationships with their parents or with their children. And I will tell you this, um, after losing my brother, my younger brother, a couple of years ago to, uh, he actually passed away up near you in Jacksonville from having a seizure, fell, bumped his head. Uh, my mom actually was the person that found him dead. So you can only imagine the trauma that she was already dealing with, with what she experienced as a kid. And then to have to endure seeing her own, one of her own sons pass away before her and being the one that found him dead. My mom's been through a lot.
45:03And my relationship with my mom is, in my opinion, no different than any. I mean, some people have a greater relationship. Some people have a relationship that's okay. my relationship is built on the respect that not like once my mom told me how I was conceived at 17 years old any opportunity for me to hate my mom like I did as a kid went completely out of the window I love my mom she is one of the greatest human beings that you'll ever meet she has her traumas and her issues just like I have mine and you have yours and other people have theirs but at the end of the day, you only get one mother and you only get one father.
45:43Oh, the Bible says to honor thy parents. I will always honor my mom. I don't always have to agree with her. She doesn't have to always agree with me, but I will always honor her, especially. Knowing how, what she endured to bring me into this world and all the people she said, all the folks that told her not to have me, she can look them in their face with pride. and a big F you because you try to kill something and take something away from this world. And I've helped raise millions of dollars, helped hundreds of kids go to college. I got a public school that bears my name on it. All that started with the decision that my mom made at 12 years old.
46:27By the way, you have honored your mom, by the way, in major, major ways. You said earlier, I just want to stop and say something to you. I really admire you. I just want to know that, brother. I really admire you. I admire you too, Ed. Thank you, brother. You're special, obviously. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at GoodToKnowFacts.org. No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients.
47:12Visit GoodToKnowFacts.org. But the other thing I want to ask you about has nothing to do about being a father, but it is a life thing. Because I think a lot of people come to the show today at the end of a dream. And you've had this happen a couple times. It's very difficult when a dream ends in life, right? Whether that be a relationship or your first sport or a business or something's failed. You had, and I say this with respect because I want to know how you've done it. You had football end. And this is someone who was destined for the NFL, great football player, but that dream didn't end the way you thought, right?
47:51You had your marriage not end the way that you would have hoped it would have ended. And then obviously, as we age as a wrestler, that transition is a transition as well. So you've had really three different times, at least that I know of, and I'm sure there are more, where a dream is coming to an end and you've got to remake yourself again. You've got to find your new way. There's a lot of people that find themselves, or almost everyone will find themselves in that position at some time. How have you done that? How did you turn football into the WWE and adopting a little girl and being father of the year by multiple standards and multiple players?
48:28How did you do that? How do you overcome a dream ending? You know, where some people look at things as failure, I've had enough failure in my life that I have to realize that this is not failure. Like, at the end of the day, I still was able to do something that many people were not able to do. So now I just have to transition and pivot to what's next for me. and a lot of people have these five-year plans and these 10-year plans you know these new year's resolutions man honestly i just submitted to what god is has planned for me uh i couldn't have written or told you anything on a vision board that's happened to me the people that i've met i couldn't have envisioned this me being on this podcast um it just we all come to a point in life where somebody is gonna like you know my high school coach told me something that i will never forget he said everybody gets fired from something at some point and we all at the end of the day we all gonna get fired what you get fired from whether it's a relationship whether it's a job you know what regardless of what it is we're all going to get fired at some point but there's a promotion on the other side.
49:46And that promotion isn't necessarily something that you might necessarily have dreamed of. It's something that God had in store for you long before you even got fired. And because of my faith, I understand that like anything that I vision that, that God gives me a vision for is going to come to pass, but you got to be real careful with who you, I mean, you know, this, being in business, you got to be very careful with who you tell what you're getting ready to do. Because all the doubters come, the thieves come, they try to steal your idea and make it their own. Oh, true. The naysayers, like all these negative things that will cause you to like not move towards what God has shown you.
50:31And in a process of recovering, there's always, whether you're recovering, I've never had to recover from drugs or alcohol, but there's always this time of detox and there's always this time of like silence and no movement and then you get to a point where where you like if you're used to being busy and you're traveling and you're doing this and that and then all of a sudden you got to get put down let's people that have surgeries have to go through this process too is when you go from getting up working out running and all this stuff and then to having to just rest. Anytime you got a reset in life, learn how to rest because that's where you learn how to have peace.
51:12When you're hectic and you don't have, you have this imbalanced life where you're trying to manage family, manage your job, manage your career, do this vision, do that vision, help this person, help that person, all these things, you don't have time to rest or you don't take time to rest. Eventually, even if you have reached the highest of your high, you won't be at peace because you haven't learned how to rest. And so anybody that's going through a transition in life, understand that part of winning in life is what you think is losing. You're actually winning. It's giving you a chance to rebuild, rethink, reimagine who you are, what you are, so that the next thing you go into, you take the skill sets that you learned, the experiences that you endured, that you took, And even the people that were beneficial in your life and that you develop great relationships with, guess what?
52:08They go get fired too. Gosh. You know, guess who might be the person that hires them? And I'm not talking about from a financial standpoint. I'm talking about guess who they're going to have to talk to about making that transition to another field. You. You. Because you did it. By the way, I've asked that question before and no one's ever answered that way. And you're right. I've watched too many people when the relationship ends get right back into other ones. No rest, no reflection, no recovery. Right back up into something else. And sometimes there's, you know, God's put you in that position for you to learn something.
52:48And if you don't take the time to learn the lesson and heal and come back stronger, you just break down again. You're very right about that. No one's ever answered it that way on the show. and after about 54 years on earth, I can tell you that you're right about that. I agree with you on it. Let me ask you another question. It has nothing to do with fatherhood. By the way, guys, the book, let me just take you through some of the stuff in here. A Bad Kid or a Misunderstood One, Finding Purpose Through Sports, The Power of a Mentor's Belief, Becoming the Father I Never Had. These are chapters in the book.
53:17It is so good. Go get the book. It's not just about fatherhood. It could be motherhood. It could be being a leader. I want to ask you a question because you're just on the inside of something. Most people may not know this. The WWE is one of the most competitive environments on the planet. To have any heat in the WWE to be well known is very rare. And then to keep heat for a long time, you're talking about a few handful of people ever, and you're one of them. So you have been to the top of the top. You were one of the top football players in the world when you were playing. And then you've been to the top of the WWE.
53:52And the WWE, we're talking about very few spots there. and everybody's good in Division I college football. All these dudes can play. Everybody, like your son that's going to the University of Florida, these dudes can play. They were all the best player on their high school team. The WWE, to get to there from all of the smaller federations and stuff, to get there, everybody's good. What is the thing or things that separate the ones who don't last from the ones who do? What is the thing? You've watched it. I'm sure you've watched guys get to the WWE like, this dude's stardom he's gonna have heat forever he's gonna get a belt he's got everything and they don't end up making it long term they had short-term heat short-term success and then you've seen the ones that have lasted like yourself and others what's the difference between the people that win long term and the ones who don't at anything their attitude and that's in anything in life your attitude and anytime you think you're bigger than the company or you're bigger than the team or you're bigger than the relationship you're gonna lose and it won't last and i will say that in any aspect in life and i tell folks all the time if you it for anybody that worked if you work in wwe for three years or more you can go anywhere in the world and go be successful because for 52 weeks a year you're on the road in different countries different states traveling in between shows four or five nights a week three to five nights a week whatever it may be um and you have to perform in front of people whether it's a crowd of 10 ,000 20 ,000 85 ,000 you got to perform the same night in night out live television and you pick up and you go again The other part is, it's a very, I mean, very few people go to the top and stay at the top.
55:49That's right. And so you got to, like, a lot of guys that I saw that came in, they got that push right away. And next thing you know, they're already a champion. And then they started believing the hype, not realizing, like, guys, we can make this spoon, the WWE champion tomorrow, and tell a whole story around it. and these people will believe in this spoon. I mean, R-Truth has some people believing in an imaginary character called Lil' Jimmy and they were responding to an imaginary character as if it was a real person. You know what I'm saying? And that's entertainment. That's production value.
56:30But the attitude, I remember hearing time and time again, treat everyone, the CEO to the janitor, with the same respect. And I think a lot of folks get so caught up in their own hype that now they actually start believing. Well, yeah, I'm the CEO. I'm the vice president or I'm this or I'm that. I'm better than this person. No, you're not. You just got an opportunity. And there's a lot of people watching to see how you respond in that spot. And when you respond a certain way that's beneficial to the company, then people trust you. but then you respond seemingly selfishly for yourself, it's not gonna end well.
57:13I totally agree with you on that, by the way. I'm thinking about business and all the people that I've seen do that and fan out. You said earlier, if I'm being too personal, you said earlier that when she asked you if you wanted to know who dad was, your birth father, you said no. Did that ever change throughout your life and you decided to at least know who he was? I'm just being transparent here. One of the last disagreements I had with my mother was because I asked her about trying to, I just needed a name. You know, I didn't want her to go down memory lane. To me, I've been harboring hate for a man that I've never met.
57:47And I forgave him. But I know in my heart that I have siblings out there. I have nephews and nieces out there. And I'm tired of going to the doctor and filling out these forms. and, you know, what's the family history on the dad's side? What's the family history on the mom's side? I have two sons myself, biological sons myself, that I want to know, like, hey, cancer runs in my family on my dad's side or not in my mom. You know, my grandmother passed away from cancer in 1995, and I don't know if that was something that this continuously happened in my family, on my mom's side. But for me, it's three things, you know, and it really, around the time that I was releasing this my my recent book wrestling with fatherhood my greatest journey to my greatest title um dad I was getting ready to throw this father's day event here in Tampa which was amazing and God had laid on my spirit to just start seeking and then I did the 23andMe and I started asking some relatives that are in St.
58:56Augustine um just some questions I mean I do have a desire to, I'm almost positive. He's probably deceased now. Um, but I am, you know, in that healing process too, because I don't know the whole story. I don't know much of anything outside of what I've been told by my mom. And then my grandmother's not here anymore. So she can't tell me, uh, things from a different perspective. Uh, I didn't find out until after she was gone, how I was conceived. So there are a lot of questions that I have that I don't want to prod and poke my mom for because it's going to open her up to traumas that maybe she hadn't addressed yet.
59:37So this is a journey that I would tell anyone like, hey, if you have some questions. I mean, it's not unlikely for folks to get to a certain point in their life, especially those that come from adopted backgrounds, to kind of want to know where they came from. And I think everybody should know if they can where they came from. Um, and it's not a matter of, you know, rehearsing bad history. It's really trying to know your roots and know like, you know, some pride points. I'm looking for some pride points, even though this guy, you know, essentially did what I feel like is the worst of the worst to, you know, like to anyone.
1:00:15I'm not a perfect man. And I learned about forgiveness years ago and I learned about God's grace and mercy years ago. I live in it. I live in his, his, his grace is sufficient. I live it every single day. And I want any of your listeners that have kind of ran from a historical trauma, especially when it comes to your parents and, and, you know, things that might've happened when you were a kid. I mean, your dad was an alcoholic. You're not the only one that had an alcoholic father. There are other folks out there that, you know, I mean, but you also ended up learning to love your dad in a different way.
1:00:53And I think that people need to go on that journey to make them a better person and have them get a better understanding because they're going to end up ministering to somebody at some point about that very trauma and our tests turn into testimonies when we actually take actions with our mess because our mess becomes our message it comes becomes part of who we are what we are and I want to continue to be the best vessel I can possibly be be the most vulnerable and transparent vessel I can possibly be it's not about Democrat or Republican black white Asian Christian Muslim it doesn't matter to me like be a great human being and in order for me to be a greater human being being centered with who I am knowing who I am when I walk in a room nobody's going to tell me who I am, who I'm not and what I can't do.
1:01:50Um, and it's not an arrogance. It's a confidence that I, this firmly rooted in God made me and brought me to this place for a reason. If I wasn't supposed to be in this room, the door would have been shut in my face a long time ago. But boy, when you get in that room, once you start, you know, I, I remember, uh, uh, President Obama said it on the pivot podcast. Once you get into certain rooms, you start talking to some of these people in certain rooms, you realize like. They ain't really all that, you know what I'm saying? You know that, Ed. I nodded so hard when I heard that clip from him. I'm like, that is the biggest truth ever.
1:02:29You get in these rooms, you're like, this is not what I thought. These are just human beings. That's it. With their own flaws and their own frailties. Let me say one thing to you. I hope you find out who your father was. I really do. And I'm sure there's some, like you said, story there. But you know what the great news is, brother? Your kids know who their father is. And they come from a great father. And the great thing I love about you is they not only know who their earthly father is, but you're making sure they know who their heavenly father is. And we all have that one. And we can all find sufficient grace and love and belief from him.
1:03:05Today was like an extraordinary conversation. And the whole time you're talking, I'm like, this is going to be a movie. I'm just glad he was on my show first because this story is going to be a movie. It's definitely going to be a movie. And those RWD fans, just Google him. You'll figure it out. Just Google him. And if you're watching this, you've seen it. But this humble man that you've heard, who does not have a bone of arrogance in him, by the way, is just like an Adonis physically. So when you hear this humility, just realize this is a strong, big man. And I think it takes a lot to be this vulnerable and this authentic and this open like you've been today, brother.
1:03:42And it's made me fall in love with you even more. So I just want to thank you for being here today. The hour flew by. It was like an extraordinary hour in my life. And I know it was for everybody else. So thank you for being here. I appreciate the opportunity, man. And I definitely don't want to leave here without thanking you for not only this opportunity for myself, but just providing a platform for so many people to to grow, you know, in so many ways. Grow in thought, grow in understanding and grow. And most importantly, in like how to be the best human being you could possibly be. You have guests on here that have different perspectives and different outlooks on life, but we all come with the same purpose.
1:04:26And the purpose is on this podcast to educate, to inspire, and to hopefully entertain in some senses because it is entertaining to know that a guy that slid underneath the ring, his true backstory is not just sliding underneath the ring. is just there's a there's a story behind it uh my my i tell folks all the time that what i do for a living is one thing but who i am for a living will forever continue to be growing and i think that if people looked at that to your point of the question of when people have to reset and restart like that job or that relationship that you lost those things aren't who you were for a living those things uh You know, that's what you did at that point in your life.
1:05:14Now it's time to go on and do something different. And this podcast gives people an understanding and you pull it out. And I appreciate you pulling it out. Very easy to talk to and very free flowing to give people a space that can be vulnerable and open about who they are. And I don't have all the answers. You don't have all the answers. But that's why you have a podcast and I don't. So you can get everybody that got all the answers or at least some nuggets. Yeah, but let's be very clear. All that growing, all that helping, all that contributing was you today, not me. I just got to sit here and listen and go along for the ride.
1:05:48And man, what a great conversation. Jeez, I cannot wait for my kids to hear this one. That's the first thing I'm thinking of right now. So thank you, Thaddeus. I still think of you as Titus, but thank you. And go grab Wrestling with Fatherhood, everybody. That's the book you want to get your hands on right now. If you're a parent or a leader, go get this book. It'll make a difference for you, just like today's podcast did. All right, everybody, God bless you. Max out. This is the Ed Myland Show.
From the publisher
FROM RAGS TO RING GLORY: TITUS O'NEIL'S UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY
How do you rise above a beginning steeped in unimaginable pain? Titus O’Neil’s story starts with heartbreak: his mother was a victim of sexual assault at just 11 years old, and from that traumatic event, Titus was conceived. Yet, what could have been the start of a lifetime of despair became the foundation for an extraordinary life of impact and inspiration. Today, I sit down with this WWE Hall of Famer, philanthropist, and beacon of resilience to uncover how he turned his pain into purpose.
Born from an unimaginable trauma, Titus faced challenges that could have crushed most people. He grew up amidst chaos and anger, grappling with feelings of hate and insignificance. Yet, through faith, resilience, and the belief of a few key mentors, Titus not only survived—he transformed. From troubled beginnings to NFL aspirations, WWE fame, and even fatherhood, Titus is proof that your story doesn’t have to define you—your decisions do.
This conversation is packed with lessons about forgiveness, belief, and creating lasting impact. Titus talks about his relationship with his mother, whose sacrifice taught him love and courage, and the pivotal moments when people believed in him and changed his trajectory. He also opens up about his unique path to becoming a father, even adopting a daughter and redefining what family means.
But it’s not just about personal success. Titus reminds us of our responsibility to pass it forward—how we can take our scars, our victories, and our faith to empower others.
Key Takeaways:
Why belief matters: How the simple words “I believe in you” can change a life.
Turning pain into purpose: Learn how Titus reframed his trauma into a driving force for good.
The power of forgiveness: Letting go of anger to find peace and clarity.
Building a legacy: What Titus learned from his mentors and how he's breaking generational curses.
Finding strength in vulnerability: Why transparency and authenticity are essential for growth.
Titus is living proof that no matter where you start, you can rewrite your story. His message? "Our mess becomes our message." Let this conversation inspire you to rise, no matter how many times you fall.
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