My dad’s a firefighter, so I know what it’s like for policemen and firefighters to be on their own on Christmas Day.
I grew up in a household where we cooked all the time. My mom cooked all the time; my dad cooked. My grandmothers cooked. I have memories of sitting on the counter and snapping green beans with my grandmother.
From my first dunk at 14 years old to my second NCAA Championship at the University of Tennessee, my intense training with my dad was always to credit.
Both my parents worked at the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with my dad eventually being hired by another company called Summit Laboratories that made chemical hair straighteners.
My dad was a crazy person, but some of the best qualities about me came from him.
What I do now is all my dad’s fault, because he bought me a guitar as a boy, for no apparent reason.
I’ve got to give props to my dad. He got me into the UFC and the MMA scene to begin with.
I asked my daughter when she was 16, What’s the buzz on the street with the kids? She’s going, to be honest, Dad, most of my friends aren’t into Kiss. But they’ve all been told that it’s the greatest show on Earth.
My days of being an absentee dad are well and truly over.
I spent a lot of time with extended family when I was young. Every weekend, Dad would buy half a sheep and Mum would cook for about 50 people, and we would all eat on the couch, in the kitchen, spilling out into the garden.
My dad is my support, and he is the best support that I could ever have.
When I was in nursery school, the teachers asked me, y’know, ‘What does your dad do for a living?’ So I said ‘He helps women get pregnant!’ They called my mom and they were like, ‘What exactly does your husband do?’
My dad is black and my mom is white. It was not in vogue to be an interracial couple in the 1970s in South Texas. After my parents moved to San Antonio, it took almost a year for them to find their first home.
Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.
My family is all musicians – my dad plays drums, my mom plays flute, my older brother plays drums, my little brother plays drums and piano. For some reason, I didn’t get the memo, so I just play bass.
The military infrastructure grew me. My faith in God is important, my belief in my country is important, my relationship to my family is important, the things that Mom and Dad tell you growing up are important.
My dad had ‘Mad at You’ down on the guitar before I even had finished the production on the record… he learned it within, like, five minutes.
I know, some kids, their parents have nothing in common and don’t ever talk. I can call my dad at 3 o’clock in the morning, and I know he is going to answer.
My dad had been very absent, even when he was there. Then he left the family and moved away. Our relationship, it feels to me, ended when I was 13.
I said, ‘Ooh, Dad, I want the yellow ones.’ He said, ‘Where?’ I said, ‘Right there, Dad. I want the yellow ones.’ Everybody goes, ‘Those are green’. That’s how I knew I was colorblind.
I grew up with my dad. He was very eccentric. I had zero supervision in New York. It’s kind of like I was an orphan.
I’m not a religious person. My mom was of Jewish blood and my dad was Protestant.
Dad used to reminisce about the good old days when Everton won the old first division championship and the FA Cup back in the 1970s and 80s but they weren’t quite so good when I started supporting them.
I adore my dad. He’s a 78-year-old man and my inspiration.
We had nothing, no money, when I was young. We lived in a council house. My dad struggled; my mum struggled. But that made me what I am. If I had everything on a plate from the start, maybe I would not have been a champion for 11 years.
