Terry Crews may come across as one of the friendliest big men in showbusiness - but he has recently revealed a dark reason behind his impressive strength.
The 53-year-old actor has long been known for his powerful physique as well as his comedy roles.
As Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Crews' can always be counted on for laughs with his ability to make his pecs dance or lift his co-stars with ease. However, during his recent appearance on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, Crews opened up about one of the main reasons he felt the need to become so strong.
Speaking to Bartlett, Crews revealed: "A lot of my desire to be strong was because I knew one day I may have to kill my father because he was just that person."
Crews has previously spoken out about how his father was an alcoholic and would physically assault the actor's mother, Patricia, in front of him. On one occasion, Crews says that his dad "knocked out" his mom in front of him.
When Bartlett asked if he ever tried to intervene, Crews said: "He was too big, I mean it was one of those things where I felt helpless, I felt 100 percent like I was so small."
"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," he said elsewhere in the interview. "You know it was like 'man, this man could rip me apart.'"
Last year, Crews appeared on Running Wild with Bear Grylls, during which, he opened up about one occasion where he did become physical with his father.
Speaking of one family Christmas in 2000, Crews told Grylls: "We went home for Christmas, and my father decided to beat her one more time.
"I mean, he had gone years without touching her, and he hit her in the mouth, knocked her tooth sideways."
After instructing everybody to get out of the house and leave him with his father, Crews admitted: "Bear, I beat this man.
"I remember he was begging, begging, and all I could think of was, like, this is how my mother felt. How do you like it?"
He continued: "And this is the thing, Bear. I thought it would feel good. And he’s on the ground, bleeding, crying, and I didn’t feel one bit better. It left me with nothing."
Crews told Bartlett that his upbringing led to him becoming a people pleaser. As Crews explains: "I became this person who just wanted to keep the peace, because, anything to keep the peace, I became what you would call a pleaser".
The full episode of the podcast can be found on Spotify HERE.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, you can seek anonymous and confidential help from the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY).
