Terry Crews won over the nation’s hearts as both a footballer and actor and now host, but he is also making a name for himself as an advocate for mental health and as a dad.
Crews has opened up in recent years about his own mental health, about how he bulked up to become the muscle-bound specimen that he is today as a result of childhood trauma. Crews’ own father was an abusive figure, one who terrorized Crews as a young boy and physically abused his mother, with Crews having once witnessed him knocking her out. Speaking to Steve Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast, he said,
“I just always felt tiny. I remember just looking at his hands and they were big giant calloused hands and the way he’d walk around the house you just hear ‘boom boom boom’ you know, it was a drama. You know it was like ‘man, this man could rip me apart.”
Crews has learned to overcome his past, despite having his own struggles such as overcoming a porn addiction that almost ended his marriage, and shared his story in his autobiography, Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One. Married to his college sweetheart, Rebecca King, Crews has four children, four daughters and one son, Isaiah Crews, who is following in his father’s footsteps.
Isaiah, who was born in 2005, is known for appearing on various Nickelodeon shows. He was cast on the show Side Hustle where he played the character of Munchy from 2020-2022. He has also appeared in The Great Nickmas Tree Sliming and now acts as a correspondent for Nick News. The latter project helps make global news stories more accessible to younger kids in the hope of inspiring them and sharing their voices.
Isaiah and his father have also teamed up together for the channel, with the pair having a great time in front of the camera showing off their father-son bond and their competitive natures. In the below video the two promote a nerf gun on the channel by going head-to-head, taking on the role of players and commentators.
Crews also made a guest appearance on his son’s show, Side Hustle, playing the role of Munchy’s uncle. It’s great to see that, despite what we presume is a busy schedule for Crews, he finds ways to support and be a part of his son’s life like this. He also shares videos of his family enjoying their time together on his YouTube Channel, with one video taken four years back to celebrate Isaiah’s 14th birthday with a VR games night.
What is great to see, is a man who has rejected the abuse he suffered at the hands of his own father and has gone on to ensure that his own children never feel like that, being an active and loving part of their lives, therefore breaking the cycle.