Mike Tyson opens up about his remarkable life journey, rooted in early adversity and shaped by resilience, discipline, and self-mastery. He recounts how childhood trauma—including a mother who struggled with addiction and a lack of stability—forced him to become self-reliant at a young age. A pivotal moment came when he was bullied for being overweight, which sparked his first fight and ignited a lifelong passion for boxing. He credits his mentor, Kustibardo, with instilling in him a deep sense of self-worth and discipline, which became the foundation of his success. Tyson reflects on his complex identity, balancing fame with personal vulnerability, and emphasizes that true strength comes from enduring hardship and staying grounded. He shares heartfelt anecdotes about his family, especially his relationship with wife Kiki, whom he sees as a nurturing, protective, and deeply loving partner. He also discusses his spiritual perspective, believing that life's challenges are part of a greater purpose and that God's grace allowed him to thrive. Though he has faced controversy and public scrutiny, Tyson maintains a grounded, authentic view of himself—valuing integrity, personal growth, and the simple joys of life. His story is one of transformation, where pain became fuel for purpose, and identity emerged not from fame, but from resilience and self-awareness. Through honesty and humor, he reveals a man who has not only overcome immense obstacles but continues to grow, leading with humility and a deep appreciation for the people who shaped him.
You know, this podcast has given me like just so many, uh, little moments of my life that have been so special and, um, and tonight is certainly no different like, uh, you know, it's where you get to get to sit across from one of the most recognizable people in, uh, in human history. Um, this is a man who's been the heavyweight champion of the world, okay? The entire world. He's been everything. He's been a father. He's been a dang, uh, inmate. He's been a drug dealer. He's been a, but I'm just saying this is a man who is done. I mean, that admirationally, honestly, uh, he's been a father. He's just done so many things. Um, life has put so much on his shoulders and, uh, and I'm curious to know what that's what it's like, um, to be him, you know, and I'm grateful to get to spend time with him today. Uh, I, I feel very fortunate to announce today's guest is Mr. Mike Tyson. You look sharp, Mike. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. I went, um, to the final Richie because I know I was coming here. I wasn't going to wear food. I was going to be casual. I had to be casually shop. Yeah. Yeah. I think you did it, man. Oh, do you like dressing up or not? I love it. You do? I do just to know where I'm in my clothe. It's just trying to close. Like a little, like kind of like a little mannequin kind of or like a very tough mannequin. No, it's like a real life stud. It's trying to close. You like putting on stuff? Have you always been like that? Or was that kind of, you know, let me tell you a story. One day, um, these guys, um, they pretty much bullied me to help them. That's how I fell in love with pigeons. They helped me build their pigeon coop. And so I started coming there often. But I, I was 11 years old. I never know about washing and changing clothes. My mother would take a hot washing club, soak on the towel or just wash me. I never washed myself. So after being on the pigeon coop, I have tar from building the pigeon coop. I shit on me. Yeah. Some guys, some guys took me to this neighborhood dance. And everybody said, "Yo, John, hey, Winky, this your friend? He got shit on me, man." Everybody started laughing. I started laughing. I was crying. They were talking about me. And every since that, um, I became a criminal, I only bought ninth clothes. There's, there's no tent. And then I created, I became a criminal, a very ninth cloth from the way they were laughing at me. And now, every time I say, "Wow, you look nice." Yeah. You're under arrest, but you look great. Yeah. Oh, I love those pictures. Oh, those are the great ones. Yeah. There's something more respectable about a criminal that is well dressed, isn't there? Um, he'd become the rogue that we love. It becomes the what is it? The rogue that we love. Rogue. R-O-G-U-E? Yes, sir. Yes. Thank you for joining me today, Mike. I appreciate you, man. And thank you for just, you've shared a lot of your life with the world. Is it sometimes, uh, scary? How much you've shared? Like, when you, or some of it is- I have it. It's a record for a moment. You had one made them and they can call me a drug dealer. I don't have the discipline to be a drug dealer, because I keep getting higher my own. I wish I had the discipline to be a drug dealer. I would be rich. Like, everybody wants to buy the cop. Everybody want to buy for me. Yeah. God, they're like, oh, I was a, oh, man, I was- I'd have bought coke from you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. You were going to say what I interrupted you? That I enjoyed getting high and high was my life. Alcohol, too, but both I was my life, it would. I love man. Oh, I was sober. I'm sober for nine years, believe that. So, for nine years, congratulations. On the count of three, can we both say our favorite drug? If you want to say it at the same time, or is that weird? Hey, man, I'm a, I'm a equal opportunity. Oh, so you have no favorite drug. You didn't have a favorite, huh? No. And then it got me out of me. I like anything that got you out of you. Yeah. Yeah, there's something about being yourself. It just gets to be too much, doesn't it? Too much power, man. God gave me more than you can handle. You think that God put too much power in your hands? No. No way. God broke me before He crowned me. Of course, I'm going to be able to handle him. He doesn't do that. You're a cool kid. Take that boom. He doesn't do that. You know, I've said it. I'll cross from like different folks and uh, but nobody I think has had like, like on their own face has so many like you, you have a lot of scars on you that are just built into you from like wars, right? Do you ever look at your own face and you can know? Do you know like which ones are from which fights and stuff? I think, you know, listen, that's interesting that you say that. I think I think it comes from accumulation of fighting. You know, you don't wake up overnight and you align on your face. It comes up the year-to-year, the waking up and you say, oh, I got a line on my face, which was it with the start, as you started ten years ago. You just haven't seen it yet. Oh, so you kind of gets worn in, so we're done. Absolutely. You have a documentary that you're starting that's coming out this year on Netflix, is that right? I believe so. I don't know when it's coming out, but I believe it's coming out. Okay. You've done a lot of documentaries. Do you feel different about this? We're like, what do you feel like there's something different to all for now to people that are going to consume it? That's interesting that you say that and we give you all the answers. There's things that people believe that other people want to hear from me that I've been saying constantly since the beginning of interviews. So it's more their perspective is my perspective. I may think it's shit. They may think it's a masterpiece. So I'm serious. Yeah, there's no perspective. Most of us don't like ourselves. We don't like ourselves up to them much. You know, the people do. You can't help it that you're very, that everybody came to see you. You're very probably, you can't help that. Not to a fault. You think it's your fault really that you're like this? No, I think it's interesting. Yeah. I can tell that you feel that way. If there was a time in your life that you could go back to and had a documentary crew that just in your own life, like in your childhood or anything, that you could just have that footage. What would it be? When it be when I first met my mentor, Kustibardo. I mean, first, when I first got in trouble, and I was in that junior detention, I was doing stuff here, and then I started boxing, I started changing my life. Then I met him. That's the part I wish I could come back. Yeah, I missed that. What was it about at that? I don't know. I had somebody I loved and they loved me. How did you know that he loved you? Oh, fuck. I'm going to tell you, if anybody say something, if anybody say something negative about being, you would attack them. So we protected you. Yeah. Then why haven't you had me talking about this bullshit? Stop. Stop. What? Stop mother fucker. Stop. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Shouldn't have bowed. Shouldn't we go back to the corners for a minute? No, I think it's just interesting. There's times in your life where people come along and they kind of hold you about a neck and kind of dry your cheeks and stuff like that and give you a place to be. Everyone needs a mentor in their life. Everybody. You know, you got a bad mentor. That's better than having no mentor. What was it like with cuss outside of the rain? What was that like? Like what was that energy out? Because their family adopted you or no? Yeah, they did. Yeah. Did you give your own room? Well, I had to earn that. You did? You had to earn it. I had to earn that. Yeah. And how did you earn it? Like what was that like you mean? I had to do my chores. I just, you know, get my grades up. You know, I'm getting my C minuses. So I'm getting I'm getting D's now and B's. I'm coming out. T's is the right nice letters back at home about I'm improving on that crap. So yeah, he loved that stuff. And was there stuff around the house that you had to do? Like what kind of Oh, I took I cleaned the dishes. I took out the garbage. I mopped and sweeped the floor. Yeah, I did the whole thing, man. Like what was the different feeling that you got there? I guessed it. Well, I thought I had to home. I had and now the. structure I had doing my tutors, me building my discipline up. After every training time, I finished training. I had the mop and sweep the gym, sweep the mop to gym. Even when I was a big shot, I'd be in front of a sports industry. I'm taking all the pictures from all day, the cameras, everybody looking at me at the end of the day, the broom and the mop. Yeah, do the gym. [APPLAUSE] Hey, man. Whenever, because he passed away, how long was he in your life for? Since I was 12, so I was 19. And when your career grew, did you guys did it put, was it harder to be close to him? I did you get so busy that it was tougher to-- Let me explain, company. He was like my father. He was my doctor father, legally a doctor father. I wasn't out of his sight much. He didn't let me out of his sight much. He watched your home, I was-- he was my-- he was my everything. If anybody says something negative about me or X2, he got to duck, and he stole one of the parts. He was just like that. And had you felt that before in your life, you think, or now? Never, never. If he told me to kill somebody I would, no, I'm telling you. That's how it was. That's how deep it was. He said, kill that, but he's dead. Yeah, type of shit, man. People-- hey, people got to go. Yeah, no, but that's-- I'm just keeping it real. I feel it, I feel it, I feel it. So the connection was that it was just that much? Yeah, he's cool. After he passed away, did you try to find another custom out of anybody else like you? But was there a part of you that was looking for something like that? I like that, and it doesn't exist. That part was filled in? Yeah. He was born only for me. He was what? Oh, you feel like he was made for you? Oh, that's awesome. And he probably felt that about you a bit. Well, also, hope so. Have you had the opportunity to try and be that for somebody else in your life? Or do you feel like you have some of the same capabilities that he had? It takes a special person to be that type of person. And we're all special in different ways. I'm nowhere near the person that he was. No, we're born from two different structures and fibers. He's just a total disciplinary. And you go, he's just-- he almost wants to be perfect. He's hardly makes any mistakes around people he won't do any. He just wants to be right at every moment. He puts himself in position to be right. He's just, I can say, megalomaniac, but he was just a disciplinary person. Sometimes he'd go with yourself, even. He'd just have to have us be fully. Sometimes he-- what, I'm sorry. I'm going to hear my-- He just may stop. He just may stop even fully. Just stop. He has to stop. My wife took the fame shit. You had to say it like this. And Mike, she was flagging to come back there. I wasn't really. She was. Oh, that's a bullshit. And I said, I knew that, right? You see, I knew this shit. I know this shit. Kiki, do you love me? She loves you. Oh, shit. That's what it's like. If you love somebody, you got to keep on cleaning, you know? Can you say that last part, though? He was such a disciplinary. Was he disciplined in his own life? Like, did he ever-- He didn't know I'm even in World War II. OK, so he was very-- he almost had an institutionalized disciplinarian. Like, if I'm going to a school dance, and it's like, what, three miles away in a taxi, little-- lay off a custom taxi, go be a little late. I can't stay up for you. Run home now. I went to girls with the weight for the cab, but I said, baby, you got to wait for the cab. I got my shoes on, running home. Did you read my house? I got to run home, yeah. And in dress shoes, probably for the dance. I got to run. I got to run home. Get home now. Run. [LAUGHS] Click, click, click, click, click. Yeah, right. It's hard to keep a girl when you act in like that. I was too-- yeah. I was extreme. It was hard to have a girl. I was too extreme with training. What was your relationship like-- was it easy for you to relate to girls when you were young, like to date, and that kind of stuff? No way. It was all-- listen, there's all about fighting. There's all about fighting. Oh, so you really set-- you weren't even trying to date or anything as a youngster? Yeah, I dated kind of late, you know, like, yeah. I was-- I was-- I was just filming up with fighting. I talked to a girl. I'm talking about fighting. She's talking about what? Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Yeah, they don't want to see you shadow boxing, yeah. Because they want to hold. I mean, they like the part when the ref tries to separate. No, no. They don't mind seeing me shadow boxing, but they want to talk deep. I want to talk about fighting. You loved it that much. When you-- Yeah. I loved it. Why was it such a magnet for you, do you think, fighting? I think because when I was young, I watched some of the big time fight. I think it was just the way the crowd rooted for people's names. I wanted them to root my name one day. Yeah. That's cool, huh? Did you feel-- like, yeah, why did you-- like, it's interesting. Some people have this feeling they need. They want somebody to see them, right? Or they want to have-- they want to have a say in the world. Like, did you feel like you weren't missing part of that? Like, were you not being seen? Or did you-- No, I guess I wanted to customize. I told them I'm the greatest fighter to begin a life. So that was about 12. They told me that at 12. And you believed him? Yes. Because you trusted him. Yes. Wow. That's pretty powerful that it would just be up-- that you'd be able to envelop that that much. No. How can you pick a kid 12 years old? Tell him you're the greatest fighter in the world. You're looking to have to keep some old pervert guy trying to do something. You know, I'm really me. I'm a thief, I'm a crook. I'm a fucking world greatest fighter all the time. So I thought there's some kind of trick. The youth center was trying to pull on me. Oh, yeah, yeah. There's youth centers. So this guy turned out to be the real deal. And I turned out to be Mike, Mike, whatever the fuck people think I am. Yeah, so he was the real deal. Do you think if you hadn't heard you talk about being scared as a kid and having your mother passed away when you were young? And I'm going to talk about some of that. I'm just saying things that I-- Can you talk about anything? Those are just some things that I know about you, right? I don't know you, but those are things that I know about you. May think you know about, but you'll figure them out now. OK, let's go. Oh! [LAUGHTER] All right, all right, all right. Thank you, Mike. Thank you for spending time with us. And with me, thank you. I didn't think I was going to like you. You made a good project. Really? Thanks, girl. I appreciate that. My wife told me, don't judge him. Don't judge him. I was sitting around with her. I said, don't judge him. Don't judge him. She's got a very-- you could tell she's a very-- she's a good soul, your wife. Yeah, she did. She believed in you. Do you think that you, if you'd have been, if you'd have had the things you needed as a child, right? Like the things that every child needs, right? I don't want that. Stay away from me. Keep that shit away from being. I like the suffer. You like the way it went? I love the suffer. I don't want no good time. Right, yeah. Oh, you like the discomfort? Oh, yes. I like being out of me. You know, getting out of my comfort zone. But if you'd have had those-- if you had the stereotypical things that people-- I would be a bitch. Would you have been the heavyweight champion of the world? No. Wow. The heavyweight bitch of the world. I know. I'd be wearing slippers during the day, probably. I'd be wearing dang slippers during the day. I know, yeah. My mother would-- my mother would baby me, wouldn't allow me to fight and all that stuff. No, I wasn't meant for me to have my mother. Did she, baby, as a kid? Like, what was she like? She was a drunk. She was a prostitute, but she was what she was. You know, my mom-- my mom had, like, an issue when I was a kid. Like, she couldn't look at me. Because-- Why? What's wrong with you? Oh, I know. I don't think so. You know something that we don't know? I don't know, shit. But something was wrong with her. She was like, she just couldn't-- like, something that-- like, when my mom was growing up, like, her dad would make them, like, put his food under their-- under the door. He would not talk to my mom for, like, for months at a time, and he would go in and out of their house through the window. That sounds like a mental illness. Yeah, right. A mental illness, for sure. What they call a mental illness. Right, right, at the time, yeah. It was just, like, kind of a reverse drive-thru-- Yeah, damn, I guess. I'm like, I'm going to your dad, that's where I think I live. But anyway, I'm just saying, like, there was just, like-- so early on, I realized I got to take care of myself, right? And I don't know if that was the truth, but inside of myself, I made that decision. Like, I probably was a kid for maybe 45 seconds. And since then, I was an adult. I don't care if I was two months old. Does that make any sense to you? Exactly. You know, my wife was kind of shamanic. And she believed that we asked for our parents. Then when I stopped believing, I said, I didn't have the parents I had, I would never be me. And I said, she might go, I said, I never tell her. I'm saying it now. She may have something there. I did pick those matters. If I didn't have those parents, I would be fucked up. Yeah. She might be right. Well, like, what's a nice memory that you have with your mom that was like something that you think about that was, like, kind of like a moment that you kind of cherish? It was one Christmas day. And I personally was on Christmas. [BLANK_AUDIO]
There's a part that was on Christmas. - I don't know how we got some money, but it was just a festival. How are the friends? They had food there, and then we were eating food, and we had never had that much food before. And I don't know how they got them money. I know it was something that broke the law, but it was just a great moment, you know. - That's why I was accustomed to the pimps, the criminal to stick up guys, the robbers, all being over my mother's house, and stuff like that. We had a house of crime, other than a house of crime. - Where did you sleep, did you have your own room? - No, come on home, I slept on the floor, on a blanket, somewhere. The bed for the, for the, for the, for the, for the Johns, for the Johns. Yeah, exactly. I was doing everything for the tricks, but yeah, the Johns, the bed below them, we got a bed, are you for real? I would know if my brother sisters heard me, they would bring back my memories soon. I'm bad, I didn't trip. - You slept on each other's backs, one person had a lay down flat, and the other person got to sleep, and then you switched. - We slept on different parts on the floor, but, you know, you had the, the, the, the, how you had the air conditioning, then you turned the big fan. - Oh, dude, I remember our, my mom would only let it be 80 degrees in the house, right? And I'm like, well, that, and at the time, when I was a kid, I didn't know that that's pretty warm, right? And so, we would go get the cold water, and we would just put it all over the sheet, and then we would lay on it like that. Make a little beach, go to Florida. (audience laughing) - But it was fun. - Listen, right? Probably is just so beautiful sometimes. - If you can laugh at it, it's hilarious. - Oh, yeah, it is. - We had some fun. - Nothing more funny than poverty. - Oh, dude. - It doesn't matter. It doesn't care how rich a family is you get it still affects you. (laughing) - Oh, yeah, how big you get? - Number two. (laughing) - And calm down. Do you remember this? (laughing) - Bro, I'll tell you something. It's a little racial, but let's do it because, go for it. - We used to live like, people would burn their trash in the ditch, right? And so, me and my buddy, William, we would get out there, my buddy Larry, and we would get all wet, and we would run and jump through the smoke in the ditch until we were pretty darker-ish, right? (laughing) And then, bro, we'd kind of wait until somebody drove by and yelled at him for that. - Yeah, bro. (laughing) - Uh, Emma, I hate it, say nigger, say nigger. You don't say Emma, it's a big, say nigger, all these more. - The only people drove by call this nigger. - Wait, hold on. - Hey, man. - Do you need me to say, if you need, I don't want to do something. I can't tell what's going on here to be honest with you. (laughing) - I mean, I'll jump through some. - I didn't mean to say one thing, I'd be ashamed. - All right. - Yeah. - Say I'm a nigger lover. - You need me to say? - Yeah. - Say I'm a nigger lover, go ahead, man. - But does it mean all of them? It's kind of a little bit. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha I don't know. I don't know if people think I should do it or not. Come on, man, if that fucking to show up, man, you fucking to show up, man. God is great, brother. God was great. God was great. Now hold on. No, who is she? I'm for this. I love this show. I love this fucking show. Are we going to jail or not? Are we okay? Another knockout from Mike. It's because he's got a new podcast. He's trying to get me off the charts. That's why. We're going to be just crying and he's scared to say nigga love. I don't know if that was what I was saying. That nigga pussy, the motherfucker. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I mean, I don't know. I've had a little, you know, I don't, I don't know. What? You have a little, I think you have a little, I don't know. I think we should move on. You know what time it is, huh? You know what time it is? Prize picks is America's number one sports picks app. That's the truth. The app is really simple to use to get started. Just pick more or less on two plus players stat projections and lock your picks in done plus you can even follow me at the ovan directly in the app. You can see your friends picks directly in the social feed and tell them with just one tap. That's it. It's that easy. And with the NBA playoffs here, there's no better time to get in on the action on the action on the action on the action. Every night of the playoffs prize picks is giving all users a live boost that drops in your account during games. All you need to do is submit a lineup with at least one live NBA square to claim the boost. Best of all prize picks will give you $50 in lineups. When you play your first $5 lineup, winner lose, you'll get 50 bucks in lineups. Use promo code Theo when you download the app and sign up today. Prize picks code Theo play responsibly. As you guys know, moon pay is my go to place to buy crypto. That's what I'm getting my crypto. And now they just launched something new called moon pay agents. It's tech that lets AI actually handle your crypto for you. Think of it like like a smart assistant that can buy cell trades, swap coins, set up recurring buys, even convert crypto back in the cash all on your behalf. I wish it honestly. I wish I could I wish I could tickle somebody, but he can't, but I can do a lot. You just set up your wallet through moon pay, verify your identity one time, fund it with a bank transfer, Apple pay, Venmo or PayPal, and your agent can get to work. Your keys stay on your device. So you stay in control. You are in control. Moon pay already powers crypto for millions of people in over 180 countries. That's almost all the countries. Check out moon pay agents at moonpay.com slash agents. Crypto is risky and can be volatile. So do your own research and trade responsibly on May 15th. Beth and Rip are back in a new series, Dutton ranch streaming on Paramount plus Kelly Riley and Cole house or return. And this time they're taken on Texas. As Beth and Rip begin to build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch willing to protect its secrets at all costs. And Texas is about to learn what happens when you pick the wrong fight. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton ranch starring Cole house or Kelly Riley, a netbending and ed Harris streaming May 15th on Paramount plus. Remember, actually, I do remember when good times was popping, bro, it was really good time. Dude, I'll tell you a story. So I'm in the airport one time, right? Jimmy Walker, the actor from good times, right? One of the great comedian, he's walking in airport, somebody starts yelling "Dynamite" at him. The police thought it was like a. Yeah, they didn't see him. They just see a couple, a couple of bitches yelling "Dynamite" and they just jumped on him, right? And I laughed. I couldn't help it and told people it was going on, but I had to. I was in hurry. You know how to get to Cincinnati. Yeah, good times. That was a good show. Do Janet Jackson was on there? Yes. Do you ever get to meet Janet? Yes, I have. I did have a chance to meet Janet. This is a rumor that I heard that you and Michael Jackson closed down C-World one night and had a party there, is that true? This is not true at all. It's not true. Don King told me that. He's a liar. I'm joking. He didn't tell me that one. But we knew if he did he'd lied about it. He tells me to choose by accident. He tells the truth by accident. Hey, man. Yeah, it is what it is, dude. But, no, did you actually get to spend time with Michael Jackson because he's such a. Yeah. What was he like as a person? I've blended. Beautiful person, hit behind all that stuff. He was a beautiful, calm, humble person. And I didn't like him for a long time, but my friend had called me. He said, "Hey, Michael. I'm just going to make some producers." He said, "Hey, man, I'm over Michael." And once he said, "Now fuck that business."
He just respected me and said, "No, I'm gonna fuck that man." - My Jackson said all that? - I said that. Oh, okay. And then my friend when I did, he said, "Really?" He asked for me to call you. I said, "I'll be right there." "Oh, I'll be right there without." - What was he like? Was he just like a. - He was very shy. He was very humble. He was at the end of his. No, he was dealing with that bad stuff. A child's stuff. He was dealing with that. He was really. And no only with four people at the house, no friend for crying. And it was just him I got to know him. - Ask him out too far. - But I'm doing fine. (audience laughing) - I love him, man. You're beautiful. - Oh, then you had to go beat some money. Red neck, you're beautiful, man. You're beautiful. - I'm doing all right. - I just feel lucky to be here with you today, man. - You're beautiful. - Do you think Michael was. Do you think he was involved in that kind of stuff? And you got to know him? Do you ever feel that about him or no? - I had a different opinion about him once I got to know him. - Got it. - Holy different opinion. - Dude, I've read somewhere. Actually, I didn't read it a lot. I'm lying to you. One of my friends told me that like he had some girls, but I mean, he was like inquiring or then he's your girlfriends and he said, "Get your own bitches, too." - Oh, he did. - No, I'm not. I'm saying that. - I'll tell you what happened. - Please do. - I went to a Michael Jackson concert with Doug. He said, come, come, come, come clean and meet my baby. He said, "I'll see Michael after he comes." I want to see. So we walk into the show's the last song. We walk into the arena. We walk down the middle of the aisle. He goes like this, the dog came down, came put his hand up. I go like this and he puts his hand down. And I say to myself, I'm no Michael Jackson, yes, this. And I say, no, he don't know. He's the big people for me. He can't be thinking about me, of course, not me. So I go in the back. I'm in the back. His whole staff is just loving me. Love the band guy gave me a stick. Anybody call it over me. Mike's at the corner chilling like this with the door, but I guess he's waiting for a car to go jump in the car. And they raise all of me. I think, let me go over there and say, hi to Mike, because I want to go see it with a good night. I go over there and before I say anything, he goes, where did I know you from? This is the biggest moment in my life. I just be Michael spring. The whole world's talking about nothing but me. And he looks at me. Where did I know you from? You were familiar. I said, nowhere, Mr. Jackson. It was just a fan. I said, you mother fucker. I said, that was a good work. [LAUGHTER] I hate him, ever since. I hate him, ever since. And my friend didn't call me to come over to the house and say, Mike called you over. Never out in the name, never out. Wow. I didn't even say that. I was just a little kid. He said that to me. You think he was joking? No, he was that serious. Wow. You know, that's serious. You think he was very competitive, he was? I think he was too competitive. He was not. He was not friendly with nobody. Yeah. Definitely not in the music business, if you don't bend in the knee. He had a bend in the knee for Mike. Well, yeah, he didn't even-- he wasn't friendly even with black bolts. He frickin' ended up in white. You got to be-- you know what I'm saying? You got to have an issue with-- Hey, but listen. Everybody's going that route now. I seen a bunch of athletes and singers go that route. Yeah. The black kind of white route. Yup, that's it. Hey. Red Rover, red Rover. Come on, you know. Send him over, bro. Passing is passing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What it-- like, and some of this is just like lower stuff. What about Whitney Houston? Did you ever get to meet her? I knew Whitney very well. Oh, yeah, very well. Where she can't-- She can't admit me in prison. I was in prison, she can't admit me. She did? You're one of my good friends. And when was that when you were in prison in New York? And no, what the fuck? I'm up in the end happily, if it's cold. I was just checking to see if you remember where you were in prison at. Yeah, I had a lot of listening. I had a lot of really interesting visitors. Whitney came to visit you. Did she sing for you or anything like that? Or did she just come and spend time? No, she just came. She brought a family home. The family came. And that was me. Who else came to visit you? I don't know quite a few people. We have some names and names or something. What about Michael Landon? He was dead. Yeah, God. He was dead then. I was he had cancer back then. So this is-- Patrick Swayze. He was dead, too, I think. To what? Why all the white people dying your stories, I'm sorry. I know this is why. Hey, Florence Henderson came. No way. He came, yes. But listen to this, she came to be with me. But I'm locked in the hole. I had to fight with one of the guards. So I'm not going to come out. If you come out the only way I come out, change, I say. I'm not going to come out like that. Thanks for to forgive me. I didn't want to do that. Because you would have everybody just-- you didn't want her to see you like that. I didn't want to see me in shackles and my feet and all that crap. It looks crazy. Yeah. When they put you into the hole, so I know it was like 23 hours of darkness, right? And then one hour of light? Or vice versa, the other way. No, there's things that light on all night. Oh, the lights on all night? Night on all night. I mean, at least in case you get up or whatever, you can-- That gives you a fucking headache. Oh, yeah. 24 hours a day for like what? 10 weeks. No, yeah. What starts to happen to somebody in there? Is it anything helpful? Yeah. The piece of solitude is healthy. It's very healthy to solitude. And most of us believe in not able to be by ourselves for a long period of time. We haven't developed a relationship where ourselves we adore ourselves. We can't stop up being in our own presence. And I guess that's the way to be. Constantly happy in the sum of even though even though we go to the bad, it should make that beautiful, too. Yeah, I think, I don't know. In my life, I feel like in my life, my whole life, I was waiting for somebody to show up. I don't even really exactly know who it was. But then recently, I'm realizing that I think I'm just waiting for me to show up. I don't want to ask about this, but-- You know what I mean? That's your narrative. How did that guy appear? How do you make that guy appear? Right. The first thing that I'm learning for myself, and some of this is pretty recent, is just having some integrity. Because if I say I'm going to do something and I don't hear myself do that. And so after a while, I don't even believe myself. I think after a while, I could even listen to myself. Because it's like, well, how many times am I going to lead myself on? I don't know if that's exactly true, but I think that's the best answer I have for that. It's always the hall of power. It's always the higher power. And I'm from the world that you come from as well. You know, the recovery world. And it's a battle. It's about some guys, so for 20 years, they're all some boom. They go to drugs and kill themselves. It's a constant battle. No one's ever went up to the end of the day until it's over, and with that. Then you won. If you ever do what they drugs, and you beat the system, that was killing you, you go a diet boom. But sometimes these guys stop using drugs for 30 years and go back. Yeah. And I mean, yes, you can't believe it. So you're never safe. Yeah, no way to get out of here alive. I love that. Yeah. It kind of makes it exciting, doesn't it? It's kind of funny, you should get out of here alive. And you get older. One of the things that gets a little bit exciting is dying because it's a new adventure. I don't listen. Does that make sense? That makes too much sense. I find out. Death is another part of life. We just never experience it. You know, life is good. How death could be bad, be honest. If God loves us, how could death really be bad? And we look at God the way we believe from the biopic death be bad, if he created it. If we didn't think it was final, then how would we behave in this time that we're here enough? Well listen, God prepares us. The universe prepares us to death. You know, little by little, we lose our friends. We lose people we care about. We lose our hair. We lose our teeth. We lose our life. If nothing happens, it's spontaneous. It's meant to be. Yeah, we lose our ability to be around black people safely, because I've said the end word in here. Yeah. You know what I mean? Black people love you. You're a nigga. Love you. You got a nigga. Hey, that's a good point. Wow. Thanks for looking out for me. I hope they're not able to cancel you on this, young. You see, we talked about Niggas. Hey, Niggas. Oh, we've got people can't do it. Oh, it's never fair. The nigga will get you. The word, nigga, the word. Oh, it's great to see some equality at last. Are you sometimes amazed like when you look at your life, how much grace God has had in your life? I realize that if you don't believe in God, look at me. Because I should not be right here talking to you. No, you probably did not, man. Listen, I-- listen, really, when I'm in my 30, I got-- I said, yes, he said, God did a really 30-trick. He allowed me to live to be 60. God, then. Well, I knew I was going to do you 60 out of play the game. Yes, sir, no, man. Yes, sir. I said, fuck you, fuck right there. Fuck you. I would doubt about it instead. Yeah, you talk. Madden 60 years, yes, sir. How you doing, man? Well, I'd walk right up to heaven like this, bro. I'd walk right in heaven, man. Sit at my table. Yeah, if I'd have been-- yeah, I think there's something about when you feel like you're doing everything yourself. Did you feel like that is a kid? I'll figure this out. I'll handle it like, did you have that chip on your shoulder? Do you feel like that? When I had my mentor, he told me not to ever see anything negative about myself. Really? Or they say beautiful things about myself. Customers taught you that? Yes. And what did he tell you exactly? They always say beautiful things about myself and never say they negative about myself because my subconscious don't know if I'm playing or not. Mm-hmm. [APPLAUSE]
- It was pretty, isn't it wild, how there's something-- - No, but I learned that at 12 years old. I had to learn that at 12 to be the champion at 20. - Hmm, you know, if I learned that at 15, 16, hey, it probably wouldn't have worked out that I've been championed at 22 probably. - Yeah. - Everything worked out for the right reason. - What was one of the hardest walks to the ring you ever had to make? - All the walks are the same, pretty much. You know, it becomes a routine. - Was there one that like, you didn't want it or it's things that changed or you were like, I don't know, I've never been a fighter. - I always wanted it because, every time I got in the ring, when I lost my life changed and a good perspective for my family. - Right, so you were providing for your family for sure. - Yeah, that's all I know how to do. - When did you become an adult? - Excuse me? - Well, I happened to leave it like that. I had to really leave it like that. I can't even tell you, man, I wouldn't have probably, who up 45 was something, don't I? (laughing) - Oh, dude, I freaking wet the bed all this 27. - That's mental illness. - I'm not going to lose, I'm not good enough. - Yeah, yeah it is. But they don't say that, they just call you Mr. Drippie Drop. - No, they don't call you Mr. Pethy. - Pethy, Pethy Cool. - Pethy Cool, man. - Pethy Cool, man. - They call you little yellow boy. - A yellow boy. But yeah, what do you think made you start to turn like, finally like, I got a grow up or something, something happened, I'm becoming a grown up. - 'Cause some guys took my pigeons and bullied me. And that was the first time I fought back and it was like, love that first fight, I never stopped fighting ever since. - Some guys, they could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could put with my boat head off. - What? - Yeah, the dirty Ryan kind of guy back there. - You remember him? - Yeah. - Who was he? - Gary Flowers. - Fuck him. (laughing) - That was a good image. - How could he do it? - Yeah, he's a young kid back there, Ryan got being a bully, I was a little fat kid, they bullied me all the time. - Yeah, but even if I saw a kid that was kind of like, had some glandular issues or whatever, I'm not gonna break a bird's neck. - No, that's just, that's all about humiliating people. - Oh, it was like a humiliation thing. Right, I'm gonna make you feel this way. Oh, did you ever get him back? - Oh, I beat the dog shit out of this. (laughing) - I don't know what you're talking about. - That's the best thing I've ever been, 'cause every day I was for three times a day, I can't stop fighting, I love this so much. - And were you having trouble finding people to fight? - Oh no, they had to bring people for me to fight for money. - Oh, really? - Yeah. - And so, who would we get the money? - The guy would say, listen, if you weren't, you'd get this much, if you lose, you'd get this much. - So no matter what you ate for money. - Yeah, he made some money. - What's the first thing you kind of bought when you got a little money? - I don't know, some weed, some candy. (laughing) - Weed and candy, bro. - That's what I'm talking about, bro. - I haven't much, he's ready for them much. He's like, now I'm leaving, he's leaving, now I'm leaving. - Dude, yeah, but they make your teeth stick together. - I know, but it's good when you're high. - Yeah, you're right. - You're high, you know mine. You know, you're like, I know you're teasing out what's in the gun, you ever did that before? - Teasing out in the now, you're teasing. - Oh, the shape of your teeth are in them? - Yeah, that shit was cool, bro. I like that shit, man. I really like that, man. - You ever have some black pussy? (audience laughing) - What is cool? (bell ringing) - Hey, I'm just asking, guys, between me and them, please don't respawn. (audience laughing) - I mean, I've had, yeah, I mean, during the holidays, one time I had a little. (audience laughing) That's true. - I'm not talking about no Jewish girl, what a great tan, I'm in a black girl. (audience laughing) - Oh, I'm talking about some real, yeah, some of that freaking, yeah. (audience laughing) I'm just saying, like, I'm just trying to think, I, yes, I had some, I've had a little. (audience laughing) I've had a little, I have had, like. I have, actually. - I ain't in there to put halfway in there. - You put it all the way in there. Wasn't that little? Did you put it in the little? How you put it in the right? (audience laughing) Oh, yeah, so little when you put it in there. - It doesn't go in a lot. (audience laughing) - It's more the hoki-poki. - Okay. - You go in, she comes out. (audience laughing) - But I've had a little man. I've had a little and I, yeah, I would get some more, I would, yeah, I'd get some more sometime, you know? - What's the black woman you dream about fucking? What's the body shape? Name somebody's body shape? - Well, some black women, you fuck them, and they fuck back kinda, you know? (audience laughing) They got that vagina kind of, it'll fuck you back, you know? It's almost like when you, - The last hundred years ago that I fucked the wanker, she did that too, you know? - Oh, I got the same thing. - But I almost try to, I was fortunate with this black lady that worked at the airport for a while, but they said move along eventually. - Did you get ticked for, do you get fried? Do you get free flights? - No, I didn't get free flights, but I even mess with it in. I'm not gonna date no good at the airport and I'm like, yeah, free flights, man. - You're right. You're right. I don't know. - Oh, man, maybe you'll set me up with a good gal that you know. - I don't know any good girls, man. I've had a good time. I know being a good girl, I give you a good time. - Did you ever have like a, 'cause Hollywood people be, people steal people's spouse or girlfriends, boyfriends, did you ever have somebody steal a girlfriend of yours here? - I'm sure they did, but I just don't know about it. - You didn't? I feel bad actually, 'cause I was saying that question, but I knew another question I was gonna ask. - After that. - Somebody said that Brad hit stole a girlfriend of yours one time. - No, it's an interesting story, yeah. All right. No, it didn't steal her from me, but when my wife was going to do a divorce, right here, but we were still fucking, right? - Okay. - We were always fucking every night. We were still fucking, then we fight in the paper, then we're fucking night. But one day, I went over the house, the fuck she wasn't at home, nobody, and then driving up the road with the BMW that I bought her. And she had some, I thought it was one of her friends from head of the clad, but it wasn't one of her friends. It was some nigga Brad's pit try to get some head. - Not long. - Yeah, so that honky was with her? - Yeah. (laughing) - Like what the fuck? - Damn. (laughing) - Damn, Brad honky was trying to slide, huh? - They're 30 dollars. (laughing) - I love you. - The fact that we got to call Brad fit a honky, he was calling her Larry. (laughing) - He's beautiful brother. - But you called him in the driveway? - Yeah, he was beautiful. I was just, I think that, - Did you punk him a little? - No. - I guess he's Brad Pitt. At least if your girl's gonna be with somebody, it's got, if it's Brad Pitt, that's okay. - I don't see how he gets here, Brad. - You know what I'm saying? - But he wasn't in Brad Pitt yet. - Oh, he wasn't Brad Pitt yet? - I didn't know what the fuck he was, he was in Brad Pitt. - He was just Brad? - Yeah. (laughing) - And she was driving up, he didn't even have a car. - Oh. (laughing) - That's some Brad shit. (laughing) Brad never got a car, bro. Name seven Brad to have cars, bro. None of them bastards. Yeah. Oh. Have you been good at being in love? Do you think of your life? - I've gotten so much trouble being in love in my life. And the love is on, love is so many entities, you know what I mean? Love has been, you've gotten in so much trouble? - No, I don't have trouble in love, I have trouble with me. Love has nothing to do with it. - Love has trouble with you? - No, it's me with the trouble. I have nothing to do with it. I love having no beef with me. Love's supposed to do what it does, I suppose to do what I do. You know, and that's what we do. (laughing) You think you're hard to love or not? You think you're hard to love? I think that I'm a quiet thief. - Yeah. (laughing) I'm wouldn't have to look like a baby place, but I'm confident that no way in the world is like me. - Mmm. (audience cheering) - That's true, man. What's up, guys, or ladies or fellows? I don't even know. Who knows what? You can't even tell who's got a wiener on them these days, you know? You'll take a chick's bra off and she got damn two wieners on her chest. Who knows what's going on? All I know is there's a lot of flat root out there, buddy. A lot of just dang deflated wiener. That's where Bluetooth comes in. Their new arousal boosting formula, Bluetooth gold, is helping millions of men have better sex in 2026. That's right now, 2026. It's time for less talk and more rocking. Less hanging, more banging, less thinking, more dinking. Who wrote this, dude? I didn't write this, I wrote the beginning I wrote, but this is just damn, it's got something about it. It's got somebody drew a twink on the screen. I don't want any of that. I just want to have a semi-decent wiener. I don't even, don't even have to get that good. I just want something semi-decent. Anyway, Bluetooth, chew it and do it. Don't let your mind get in the way of a good time. We've got a special deal for our listeners right now. When you buy two months of Bluetooth gold, you get the third for free with promo code Theo.
That's promo code Theo, visit bluechoo.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank bluechoo for sponsoring the podcast. This show is sponsored by Liquid IV, one of my favorite all. Start a summer activities is when somebody put that slip and slide out there and sometimes you don't have enough property in that slot. The slip part of it's in a good area but the slide part heads right up against that wooden fence. You know what I'm talking about. When you're on the go, staying hydrated is key to enjoying all that extra sunshine. Liquid IV is clinically demonstrated to hydrate faster than water alone. I bring liquid IV with me on the go. I like to just rip one open, drink a little water out of my bottle. I'll drink. I'll take the first sip out of my water bottle to give a little room in there and then I pour that liquid IV in there and I'll shake it up and boom. You're hydrated. Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates faster than water alone powered by LIV Hydra Science and optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into extra ordinary hydration. Stay hydrated while you're on the go this summer with liquid IV, tear, pour, live more. Go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first purchase with code Theo at checkout. That's 20% off your first purchase with code Theo at liquidiv.com. Anywhere worth going is worth going in good boots. That's the answer boots. And you can find your perfect pair with Tacovas. Those are the ones I like to wear. Tacovas crafts quality western boots for everyone from generational ranchers to lifelong cowboys to first time boot buyers like myself. That's what I was. Tacovas has got you covered for every occasion, weddings, concerts, outdoor festivals, work events, maybe say ounces, whatever you need, Tacovas boots are handcrafted with over 200 meticulous steps for broken in comfort right out of the box. My Tacovas are so comfortable. I feel like when I put my feet in new them, I just, I don't know if my feet are going to come out because they're just having such a good time in there. Right now you can get 10% off at Tacovas.com/theo when you sign up for email and texts. That's 10% off at t-e-c-o-v-a-s.com/theo. Tacovas.com/theo. See site for details. Tacovas, point your toes west. Did ever become like being Mike Tyson and became an iron Mike Tyson and being like this? When you become bigger than you, how did that affect you like as a person do you feel like? I know the truth that I'm never big, I don't know, that's just some form of imagination really being from big star, I know who I am, I know what I've accomplished in life, the good, the bad, you know, but there's not many people, you know, listen, I walk with poverty and I sit with presence, you know, I just, it's not too many things I haven't done in my life, you know. So I just take my life day by day and I'll make too many plans, you know. I met your wife now, Kiki. Yeah, very interesting person, huh. I'm going to say she's a beautiful nice lady, you can say she's a very interesting person, she is very interesting, I'm sure, I don't know her well, she seems very kind eyes and she seems like she really cares about you. So those are things that I noticed and you guys have some beautiful children, I saw someone, one of them I think is here, maybe two, Michael Miguel, but Miguel, Luciento. And Milan. And Milan. Yeah. Kiki seems to just have like, she wants to make sure that you're okay, right? Is there, like, what's, what's it like now with her, with this relationship? What's this marriage like? I don't know, it's just too perfect, we need a little bullshit and that little thing. Yeah, we're cool, we have a great connection, you know. I think we bullshit, I'd be now and then, what's something you really love about her? I just love her being a mother, she's an awesome mother, awesome wife and the all around beautiful person. I really hit the jackpot with this monkey, she's really precious. Where did you meet? Oh, Kiki, I knew it since she was like 1918, yeah. Is she like a strong woman in the household? Like what's that kind of energy like? Like did she make you get up early or anything? No, that's the whole thing, I like to move. What's that? Life, I don't have to move, yeah, yeah, I don't have to move, she takes care of me, everything. I got the real wife that, you know, cooked for me, bring my food to have to eat, if I'm tired, she'll feed me, I got to go out, you got a green, huh? That's nice. Then she's also, she's also my pet and she's also my tiger too, she's my defender. So she has that inner tube, hmm, no, you got to have somebody that has that. Oh, you have so, there's nobody has the more fury than a woman and that's just in general, there's nobody that fights more fears food than a woman. Oh, dude, they can make a child, if you went on a laid on her back for nine months, we could have made shit. No, no. You know, women are special breed, yeah, well, they're wizards are damn wizards, I'll say that, but they are also a great breed. No, that's the biggest gift car to ever give us as a woman, yeah, the most precious gift car to ever give us as a woman. Yeah, that's the truth. I agree, I agree, man, hey, this is our show, man, you heard the man, I think like fathering and fame would seem like it's really hard for me, you know, how about your life, I don't have any children yet. Oh, God bless you, man, what, God bless you that this doesn't work well with children. Well, I don't want, I don't want things that I've said are done to influence my children's life for people to look at them a certain way or have certain expectations out of them, but you have to fear that much, but your life has been at a, at an insane amount of that, like, what was that, did it make it hard for you, like, what was it like fathering and having your life, like, in the fame? I don't know, my kid had a great life and if they ever started complaining, they should think about it, they should have had my father, didn't they would have a right to complain, yeah, they do not have a right to complain, my kids go to the best school, the work, or they had the best part, the best opportunity the work offered is up to them to take advantage of it. Hmm. Where was your father from? North Carolina. Oh, dude, no way, I'm going to forget Wilmington this weekend. Charlotte, even Charlotte. Oh, Charlotte? Charlotte's okay. I'm fine with it. I will tell you this story. So one time I was in Charlotte, right, and I hadn't been there before, my friend and I were sitting on a patio. We were just getting some meat and I saw somebody pushing a baby carriage down there, right? And I thought, and they were wearing, like, a couple of different, like, like, shawls or like, rugs, almost like a bunch of, like, tapestries and stuff over them and over the carriage. And I thought it was a, like, a homeless guy, like, a French homeless guy, right? Because he's French. Well, just he was a very collared look, like, dude, he was French. And North Carolina. Well, just because of the elegance of the shawls and stuff, they seem very French-ish. Very French-ish. And, uh, yeah, French-ish. It was freaking Cam Newton pushing his newborn down the street. How are you, sir? I swear, that is a true story. And that's true. It was him, dude, I'm, keep looking, I'm like, damn, I got the most beautiful, elegant homeless around here. They were really violent. And then I'm like, I saw people run up and get photos and it was Cam Newton, he just had a newborn child. And he was taking it for a little saffron and stroll out there by the McCormick and Schmicks out there. You have anybody you want to love with? Do you have anybody I'm in love with? Yeah. Nobody off the top of my hair. Yeah. You're not one of them right now. No, I'm not one of them right now. You're not kicking them with no one right now? I mean, I'm, you know what I'm saying? I'm saying, yeah. How old are you? I'm 46, dude. I'm an adult. You got the fucking hair. You got that fucking hair. How old are you? You got that hair. You got that hair. That hair is pretty much the same as the one in the bandit. That hair is pretty much the one in the bandit. people and stuff and take their hair. They were taken, you know, they were taken out of something. That's why I grew my hair up. People didn't get some help. The hair was in power. That's why they always try to cut your hair up. Boy, you learn a little animal. Cut your hair. Cut your hair. Keep your fucking hair up. Yeah, bitch, I want to be an animal. Yeah. 'Cause once you lose your hair, you go always with God. I was at it back. Some guy said, I was in the way. No wasn't in the way, motherfucker. You wish you had your hair back. Yeah, but the only thing I was in the way was in the way of you being a little bitch. That's the only thing you're wrong, huh? Well, let that hair grow. But that's how much you grow. Let it grow. Praise, that's it. Let the people sell out of your animal. You can't get a job. You can get a job with a lot of hair now. Yeah, you can get a job that quick. It's hard to get a job with a mechanic's assistant. Anything. Anything. That makes more money than an average person by far. Yeah. Bro, you could just brush your hair online and dudes will pay to watch you do it. Yeah, listen. That online thing is either the best thing or the best thing a pedophile can ever dream of. Or else it's the biggest hit in the world. One of that is the worst, bro. Do you see times change, bro? Same. But like, how bad? Like things are not bad, but things just got so much different. It's gotten away from the most. Everything became sexual. You know, everybody is worried about who's sleeping with who. Everybody's worried about who's gender is who. And who looks like this. And it's all about that now. Yeah, it's, uh, there used to be so much more. I think, I don't know. When you could have recorded everything the moment was so great, but because then also if I needed to know a story, the only way I could get it was from you or from somebody that told it well. Yes. And so that person had like, I don't know, they had an ambiance about it. There might be a dude in town. All he did was tell one this story. Or no. That's happens in the beginning of life. Yeah. And now it's suddenly different. Yeah. And now it's a different story. - But I have to rehab? - Yeah. - What? - My very hand on my children's life, man. - Oh, you listen, I can't make shit like this. The rehab guy said, "You got cold?" And I said, "I give it as an honor when you're hiding with me, I'm trying to lift clean." Then they go away from me. He comes back at the weird. - Yeah. - I know this motherfucker didn't take my coat. I don't got it, man. And I said, "I kept that shit there." - Type shit. - Oh, man, I got to feel fucking mad. - Dude, I'll tell you this freaking story. To one time, my friend, we were getting out of an Uber. He dropped some coat, right? And I didn't know he did coat. And I didn't know I did coat, right? - I'm in there. - So I picked his coat up. I'd never seen it before. I just saw this little bag in it. I registered pretty quick. This is probably cocaine, right? And so we go inside, we're staying at my buddy, Kevin's house. We go inside. And he starts saying, "Hey, will you help me look for something?" He won't tell me what it is. Because he doesn't want me knowing that he's-- - He doesn't want to give me that, that's what it is. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what it is, bro. So I keep sneaking off and doing the coat because we're looking really hard, right? Bro, after like two hours, he goes to sleep. I'm still looking for the shit. And doing it, bro. And I forgot what I was looking for, but I kept looking, bro, because that's who I am. I'm committed. I'm not my fucker that will ride with you, Mike. - I got to tell you this story about cocaine, okay? - Okay. - I mean, first I'm in Jamaica, right? And I leave Jamaica, I hang out with Jamaica, hang out there. And I go to Cuba for-- It's very close to our half an hour. - Did you get to meet Fidel and Cuba or not? - No, interesting though. I said to myself, so I'm in Cuba, right? I'm hanging out. And so guide me, hey, you're my type, right? - Yeah. - Hey, Mike, what's wrong? They were saying, "I can't see everything's great." I have a lot of somebody here. You need a girl. This is a possibility. Yeah, I do. You're fucking genius, right? So he thinks, you know, listen, but you get-- he takes me around, it's nothing but bricks and rocks and bandages. It's like a bomb at the bus stop, it's disgusting. And I'm like, I think this guy's setting me up to get mugged at something here, right? And all of a sudden, this beautiful girl, she had ragged clothes, and she comes out of this fucking crap with the loppedated girl that looks like a hip-hop bomb. Nobody lives in there. This is all the bad news. And she comes out, I said, what the fuck? - Wow. - Yeah, but this is what I'm talking about, Casra. You know, the natives there were unable to live. They can't go in the hotels there. People are living in the residence? 'Cause they don't want to talk in the people that are visiting. - I don't know, but they're not allowed to go in the hotel. Casra allowed me to take people to my hotel. They let me do whatever I wanted to do a while. Yeah, it was very nice. And I think I had a fight. Yeah, I do bottles. I didn't get arrested or nothing. I don't even tell the people being me alone. Let me do what I want. Damn. Anybody else who's been throwing bottles and stuff on you, but they've got fucked up. They've been in the hospital. They've been in the firmerie. Then they were in jail. - What made you want to go to Russia? - Because that was kind of like why, you know what I'm saying? I don't even know. First of all, did they even, at the time, have black people in Russia? - Yes. - Did they really? 'Cause they never put them on the website or anything. - They came to Russia around 1909. - Black people did? - Yeah. You know, and I met black, you created, I met black Russians. It was a really amazing city. - Wow. - Because you probably wouldn't even think that would have happened, right? - No, 'til they start talking. - Yeah. - Wow. Dude, that's cool. That's one cool thing about traveling sometimes, bro. This is a true thing. - I see somebody that looks like you and their mother might be black and then father might be white or something, like African or something. - Well, you just realized that like, oh, there's so many people out there. Like when I was in my little town, I thought heaven was only going to be people in our town, right? - Listen. Let me tell you something about Russian people and Ukrainian people, right? Listen, no, yeah, I'm up there, right? And so we got some co-girls, supposedly co-girls, right? - Some co-girls? - Yeah. - Really co-girls. They're ex-quits. They're co-girls. - Yeah. And listen, I'm saying to myself, I want to talk to my friend and Yugoslavia. She talks Yugoslavia. She calls them that. I want to talk to a friend of Steylen and China. She talks to the. She dated the common. The common co-girl was speaking around several languages. - Yeah. - You know, a co-girl in America can't even speak English. Yeah. Can't speak our home language. You know what? Co-girls speak seven languages. I'm trying to think, how can I get this girl from here to America? You know, she's going to be a 14, 500 country. I'm telling you. These big eight languages and stuff, been to the best school that she's a co-girl? - Dang. - I'm like, whoa. - And women here, they barely will even learn even one language or even one and a half languages. - They're not even going to learn how to cook. - Yeah. - You know what I mean? - Right. We learn how to cook. - Dude, some women can barely use it even emojis. - I don't know how to use it either. - Yeah. But still, you shouldn't have to, dude. You're Mike Tyson, man. - No, I'm just saying women here have it made. - Women here have it made. The other country, you can't have a, you can't have a say of nothing. - Yeah. I guess, yeah. I guess I don't realize how bad women have it in pretty bad times. - In Japan, you see mostly women, they're in prison in Japan because they killed their husband. - Nah-ah. - Majority of the meeting. He can't stand the abuse anymore. - Oh. Damn. - Japan. Can you imagine? - Mm-hmm. - Because they're so peaceful a lot of times. We had a Japson, Japsonese, Substitute teacher and he didn't even say anything to us because he didn't want to bother us. That's how nice he was. We didn't learn anything. - You can't, he was. - Yeah, I was. Well, we didn't learn anything for four days because he was, he didn't even want to bother us. You fought in Japan against it. Was it, who was it? - I had two fights in Japan from this fight, both Douglas and someone else, Tony Topth. - Baster Douglas, that's when you won the championship? - I lost him too. - Oh, damn. Sorry. - No, I mean, sorry. I mean, I got that $40 million. - Hey, you got $40 million. - $35, yeah. - Wow. - Thank shit, though. - Yeah. - Sorry, bro. - I'm round and even. - Yeah. - Dude, that's so wild, bro. But before that fight, you weren't, did you, were you training as hard or were you just like living their life? - No. - I was living their life, but he fought a great fight. - Yeah. He fought a great fight. - Dude, I remember we were like, I was living in Charleston, South Carolina at the time, and somebody had bought the fight with like a projector, and they projected it on the side of like a building, and everybody came down town and washed it, dude. It was awesome. Oh. It was a good time, man. It was like, when you fought, it was like, it brought everybody, it was like watching the challenger blow up. Everybody showed up. You know? - Yeah. - The challenger did, bro. Remember that? - Like the whole time, in the whole day, I see over and over again. That's like those guys that went in the water with some of them in, and it combusts. And it's like, "Boost!" - Yeah. He took his front down. This guy took his front down there. - But they went down there in a fucking Mac Nugget. You know that's just gonna happen, dude. Oh, it's that cutlass on the side of it. It was a Delta 88. I'm like, you got in that bitch? They just, like, I don't want it. I shouldn't say that. They're good. They got smashed, they couldn't even feel it. - That's tight, boy. - 'Cause I hate even getting in a small shirt, you ever put a small shirt on and you can't even get out of it? - I like being a small jitter-up partner. - Yeah. - If you might tie it-- - How long ago? - Yeah. Dude, I went to Hulk's funeral, man. - Did you really-- - Yeah. Tell me about that. - It was pretty special, man. Like, well, it was a lot of things. It was like-- - Look at that. - Right outside of Tampa. And, well, one thing I was interesting, Jim McMahon was there, but nobody knew he was there. And then, at one point, he came out like-- - Then it took, man. - Yeah. You ever met Jim McMahon? - That's as far as-- - No. Jim McMahon was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears, remember him? - Oh, he's bad ass. - Yeah. He wanted glasses. - Yeah. He had that mullet, dude. He showed me his frickin' butt hole one time in Palm Springs at a casino for no reason. - No, it was a reason. - It was a reason. - It was a reason. - He figured you out. - No. And then, thank the quarterback. He's a great quarterback. Great perception. - No, no, no, no. - The quarterback was said, "Who?" - "Who?" - "Who?" - Well, look at this receiver. - [laughs] - [laughs] - Right, that's crazy, dude. But anyway, you're right. - I mean, that hole. - [laughs] - Tell me about him showing you that butt hole. How does that appear? What caused it? - Well, nobody was expecting it. It was just like a regular night. - Have you ever seen that one before? - I've never met him before. And he was drinking beers. And he kept, he was saving all the cans. I think he was like, he's like a. What's it called when you care about the nature when you're like a. - Asshole. - Asshole. - Asshole. [laughs] - Hey, was someone, don't be saying that you have a lawsuit. You saw his asshole. - I saw it. - It was dark. I mean, but. - Just make a man, you're welcome to come on and have a lawsuit. This man saw your asshole. - What? Dude, why. - You said you saw an asshole. He made things differently. - Okay.
Oh, wow, look. He may say, "That was a cheek, that was an asshole." (audience laughing) Mike is working, and now you're working for an attorney's office. I know who it is, huh? Was it a cheek or an asshole? I don't know, man. Damn, you tricked me, I just said, "I don't know." Well, I knew it was a little while ago. You're right, I'm not sure. It was shadowy out, but I do remember where by the pool, and it was nighttime, but anyway. Yes, I'm opening up some cheeks, right, for his cheeks. Right, but everything in my, just like, mind, I guess, thought there was an asshole. What did he say, "Come get it, guys?" No. Come on, guys. No, he wasn't saying anything like that. He was telling a joke about his ex-girlfriend or something, and then he said, and then he said the punchline, "I don't remember it." I mean, he just kind of showed his blood hole at the end. He was running back, and he said, "Come run up in the head, do the running back for yourselves." Who was the running back at the time? It wasn't Peyton, was it no? Sayers, no, sayers, was early. Sayers, who old? Was it? No, it wasn't really. And 85 bears was Peyton? Well, I've been hit big, Peyton. Water, come on. Come on, Walter. Get over here, Walter. I'm a asshole, huh? I didn't mean to see it. But yeah, anyway, let's do one, but here's what I'm gonna say is. So Vince McMahon comes out there. Nobody knew he was at the funeral. And it was wild because they had guys like-- I can't believe two have been vintage. Yeah, well, I think over the years, they'd had a lot of issues, right? But a lot of my favorite wrestlers were there, and they were kind of broken down, somewhere in wheelchairs, and somewhere like-- some people had earns of other guys who had passed on. They had their ashes just they'd brought them. But Vince McMahon got up, and he did, like, he played Hulk's music, and he did all, like, a lot of his, like, things, you know? And then he made, like, a speech, and then he disappeared. But it was everything. It was, like, you know, he was so much of my childhood. He was, like, one of the first person that I ever saw. Like, in our neighborhood, like, a lot of people didn't have anything. But when wrestling came on, it felt like you had something. I don't know why, right? It's like a soap opera for kids, you know? We know the story. They double-team them. They cut them up. They cut them asleep. They jump and do them over the rope. Fucking, yeah. All of that, but anyway, so that was, like, our hero. But like, the soap opera, we know it was the story, right? But we as kids, we thought, I think you believe it's so real. Oh, 100%. It was so good. So that was, like, one whatever, that was one of our heroes. So to go was just, yeah, I don't know, it was pretty special. And his son, like, gave a speech. It was nice, man. It was just, but he didn't feel like he passed away, because he was, he's so much larger. And then he talked to Hulk on the show. Yup, and I'll tell you this. When I met you downstairs, and I got to shake your hand, I was like, that's the strongest person I'd ever like, could we give us, like, a mini hook? I said, that's, I walked out. I said, there's the strongest person I've ever given a mini hook to. The second strongest was Hulk Hogan. Really? Hulk was a massive, maybe the big star. He's just such a big star. You can never imagine how big he was. Who was like a hero to eat like that, like, in them? I'm going to say Martino. Bruno Saint Martino? That was my hero, my god. How? He could be, he was champion for 12 years. He could be everybody. He was champion. Listen, I was seven until I was like, what? Seven, two, like 20 almost champion. He was a legend, man. Yeah. I got to interview one of the Von Erick's one-time Kevin Von Erick. I make you remember. They died at the quarter. Yeah. Oh, listen, man. I'm a historian. Don't play with me now. Yeah. That's me some questions. I'm a historian. I have read, actually, that you, like, study a lot of, like, like, you really enjoy, like, philosophy, like, Tolstoy, Alexander the Great. Who are some, like, famous warriors that you admire the most kind of in history? Oh, all of them are Achilles, Alexander, Hannibal. They were just, else said, there's just so many different concepts. You say, why do you want to do this? Because, no, I don't want to be God. They believe if I control all this world, if I control the world, I'm a god. And instead of the end of the day, they realized they were nothing, you know? But can you even relate to that? Like, did you ever have a time in your life when your, because our ego was one of the scariest things, right? You can only play with the thought of it. It's not sincere, not real. Yeah. Only when you're a god, if you live forever, you're immortal, you know, but we have demi-god's now. We have authors that turn people into gods, you know, like, what do you mean by that? Some people would never be forgotten, Napoleon, all these guys, they know your history, you have to know these people. They're part of history. We can't know our history, we don't know these people. That's what makes them godly. Oh, only if we know them. You would never get to know them unless you read about them. They only have special places to know their identity. Did you, like, what was one of the toughest times you ever have with your own ego? Because, like, ego is just so scary, right? I don't know. My ego is so personal, you know, I don't know how to even just say I just want to do better than before. I don't think I have, you know, I do think I'm out of the degree sometimes. I can't do that. I think I haven't. And what are you talking about? Like, you do, like, you dressing up in the bedroom, what you're doing with role-playing? But on that ATG hat, it says ATG on it. No, it's just that the way I conduct myself, he was a cancer too, my Alexander. And what is down for was with his moody. I learned that not to let my mood control my feelings. It was really moody, that was his downfall. What helped you, like, have discipline, like, say something like that, you noticed about yourself? What helped you create, like, some little disciplines, like that? Well, the best way to receive discipline is to do what you hate to do, but to do it like you love it. You do that, that's discipline. And is that something you really caught? That's all I practiced my whole life, even now. Did you always love fighting, or did you hate fighting, or? You know, I loved it. I loved the concept of fighting. I loved the fighters. I wanted the greatest fighters of the world to know my name. I would, you know, I would be on my knee, kiss their hands, kiss their feet. I loved them. I worship them. I believe they touched me. They have believed in magic on me. I was going to be around, I carried their bags for them. I gave them money. When I became a big time fight, I always gave them money, because they know I'm being broken down and I have no money. And I'm also not dementia, so I always gave them money to carry them. Gave it and took it away. If they got that dementia, you feel me to run it right past, right? I know. But I used to talk to them. But paying homage, you're saying? Yeah. I had to pay homage. And if I didn't see these guys, I wouldn't want to be who I am. Did they? These guys inspired me to be fightin'. I don't want to be nothin' else. Even though I saw that they turned out, I normally would turn out like these guys, nothin' beggin'. I still wanted to be a fight. I didn't care. I wanted to be with that kind of, I wanted to be in that fraternity. That's so interesting to hear. Yeah. I never think about that. It's like, yeah, like, I didn't just, we didn't just come up with the idea of ourselves, all by ourselves. Like there was so much influence and people that did something before us that like let us, no matter what our job is or what our thing is that we like to do in life. That's interesting, man. I forget about that sometimes. Like, yeah, sometimes I get, I don't get stuck there much, but sometimes I'll be like, oh, I'm like, yeah, I made me. And dear, do you ever think about who you are, how you really got here, what you really consist of, is there something more than you? Are we going to see each other again another time, are we livin' in parallel lives? This right here going on somewhere else in life, we have so much energy, we don't even know about ourselves. We know everything else, but we know nothing about us. Oh, yeah, dude, I didn't like, most of my life, I wasn't even, me, I was just, I was just like some survival mechanism that had started all. 100%. That's the first thing to happen. Self-preservation starts first, and then once we get situated, then we try to figure everything out of style. Yeah. Yeah, man, it took forever, like, it took me probably 30 years, it's just an exhale, you know? I understand, I understand brother, I understand. And then it's scary because there's times I thought, man, like, I don't even know if I wanted to be like a funny guy, I might need to be one in somebody that worked out, like a clothing, like a haberdasher or whatever, like a singer, but that was the first thing that I could get people to like. You get attention. But I see you, and so I could, like I was just like, there was, I don't have another choice, that formed everything I was, you know? I wanted to be seen so much, I was a little baby and my mother and a friend, they were having fun drinking. I put my finger and drain, I put them on my face, and I wanted them to, I started screaming they by grabbing me and took me to the hospital, but I wanted that attention at such a young age. Yeah. Oh, I loved one of the hospital, dude, because they had good food bags in, too. And they give you attention, bro. Yeah. We had a couple ladies who would come in and care about you, even a gay dude. They slip in there every now and then. But still, bro, that's your big man. Love this love, my dear. Hey, bro. Love this love. I got a question, Mike, oh, did anybody ever, because I just got back from Lexington, right? Lexington's in Kentucky, and they have the Derby race there, and it's a beautiful place for this shuttle, all special for Netflix, actually, that's coming out in like about two months, so I'm excited about that. Did anybody ever hope?
you to buy your semen." And I mean that honestly. And I don't mean that in like a negative word. "No, I mean I gave it away free. Why didn't they want to buy it?" "Bro! Dude, we're giving our busted ass semen away out here. Are you over there? Dang, bro!" "And free." "What?" "I had no idea they were selling their buying. Dude, I've been building them right now." "You can still, bro, long as you can still warm up a batch, bro, you can sell it at the merch stand over here." "Well, if I was single, I would." "I'd look, that's true. He might have an issue with it." "Man, yeah. God, bro, I could give her a couple of ounces for you out back at his joint today, man." "I'm happy to win my life with now." "Yeah? What's a few things before we go, like what's a few things that make you that bring you some of the most joy that you have today, and they can be something small, it could be anything." "Just my children, I have to live the life that I live. That's the only thing that I feel I care about." "Is it?" "That's all I care, bro." "Yeah, listen, this might even make them strong, but I wouldn't take the risk to might kill them too." "Wait, say that one more time for me?" "I say it might even make them strong, but it might kill them too." "Oh, they have to go through the same stuff." "Yeah, I don't want to take good chance. I like to live it now." "Yeah. Well, you did it." "Yeah, a lot of help, a lot of help." "A lot of help." "Yeah." "Yeah, we don't do it alone." "Excuse me, no, no way. No way. You realize real quick, we have children, you need help. Yeah, you need a lot of help." "Thank you so much for joining us today, Mike. I want to say that." "You have one man show that's going to be tried at a live show that your wife wrote, is that right?" "Yes, she did." "Wow, and did she have to get you to sign off, did they'll do some teamwork, or what was it?" "I found out for what matter that this is hard work and I don't get any money for it. What do you mean?" "Did she just like say, or was it like, did you guys like, how do you put that together because it's just interesting that she would write it? Is it just about like. " "Yes, talk, yes, talk." "Yes, talk." "I'm about dark shit. It works out well." "Yeah." "Like, you're a lover when you hear the midget story." "You got a good one in it?" "Oh." "And it's in the show?" "Oh, yeah." "Save some of it." "Yeah, you know what, I'll come out to one." "You got to check this out, man." "I'll come out." "I'll even come on stage and just listen to it. I'll put on something little for you." "Not for you, for just, I'm just out of the square." "Tell me about little." "I'll do work." "I'll put on the small one." "You're with gone." "No, no, no, I'm not." "I'm just saying a small shirt." "But you have that one man show that's going to be, and that's going to be a tour." "We'll see." "Okay." "We see how much they're paying me for it, we'll see." "And you have a, and you have your documentary that's coming out on Netflix." "Yes, I do." "You do." "If, uh, you got nowhere to be fucking thing about." "I know it." "That's fine." "I don't know, we learned a lot tonight, dude." "If cost, if cost the model could see you now and see your whole life, right? If you could see your whole life, you know, and just get to spend some time with you today. Do you think, like, what would be something that you would like to, like a moment you would like to see with him or have him say, "What do you think it'd be something that he'd be impressed by?" "I was three clubs. Anybody in the world said I'm the best ever, what do you think?" "What do we think, guys?" "But no one he would say, no one country would say what he would say." "What would he say, man?" "You didn't move your head enough, because that guy was a little fast, he would have hit you." "That guy was a little fast, he would have hit you." "Yeah." "And that guy was eight seconds." "He was a little fast, and he meant you had your head up." "Man, thank you so much for sharing your time with us today, for bringing your family here today, just for the opportunity that we get to see you." "They all love you. I don't know what the fuck you are." "Yeah." "And my family loves you, but they love you, my kids love you, but you know, fuck you, right?" "You know the truth, dude? I don't know who the fuck I am either, bro." "I will share this to you." "But hey, but I love you, man." "Thank you so kindly, bro." "And that's the truth." "And all." "And thank you." "Let me come to Mike Thompson!" "Now I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm floating like these leaves I must be." "I'm corner stoned." "Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this piece of mine, I found I can't feed it." "In my bones, but it's gonna take. "
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Mike Tyson reflects on his transformative life journey, from childhood hardship and abuse to becoming a global icon through discipline, resilience, and self-reliance.
He shares intimate moments of personal growth, including his formative relationship with a strict mentor who taught him self-worth, discipline, and emotional strength.
Tyson discusses his deep connection to his wife Kiki, describing her as a nurturing, protective, and essential presence in his life, highlighting their strong bond and shared values.
Summary:
Mike Tyson opens up about his remarkable life journey, rooted in early adversity and shaped by resilience, discipline, and self-mastery. He recounts how childhood trauma—including a mother who struggled with addiction and a lack of stability—forced him to become self-reliant at a young age. A pivotal moment came when he was bullied for being overweight, which sparked his first fight and ignited a lifelong passion for boxing.
He credits his mentor, Kustibardo, with instilling in him a deep sense of self-worth and discipline, which became the foundation of his success. Tyson reflects on his complex identity, balancing fame with personal vulnerability, and emphasizes that true strength comes from enduring hardship and staying grounded. He shares heartfelt anecdotes about his family, especially his relationship with wife Kiki, whom he sees as a nurturing, protective, and deeply loving partner.
He also discusses his spiritual perspective, believing that life's challenges are part of a greater purpose and that God's grace allowed him to thrive. Though he has faced controversy and public scrutiny, Tyson maintains a grounded, authentic view of himself—valuing integrity, personal growth, and the simple joys of life. His story is one of transformation, where pain became fuel for purpose, and identity emerged not from fame, but from resilience and self-awareness.
Through honesty and humor, he reveals a man who has not only overcome immense obstacles but continues to grow, leading with humility and a deep appreciation for the people who shaped him.
FAQs
Mike Tyson was inspired by watching big-time boxing matches and wanted the crowd to root for his name. He believed he could become the greatest fighter in the world, which motivated him to start boxing at a young age.
Growing up in difficult circumstances with a mother who struggled with addiction and mental health issues, Tyson learned to take care of himself early. He developed strong discipline through chores, training, and the support of a mentor, who instilled values of responsibility and self-control.
His mentor was a pivotal figure who became like a father to him. He taught Tyson self-worth, discipline, and respect, and encouraged him to never see anything negative about himself, which helped shape Tyson’s confidence and mindset throughout life.
Mike Tyson reflects on his past with honesty, acknowledging the pain and hardship he endured. However, he believes these experiences helped him grow and develop resilience, and he now sees them as part of a journey toward self-improvement and personal strength.
He embraces the label of being a 'rogue' because he believes that a well-dressed criminal carries more dignity and respect. He sees it as a form of empowerment, showing that even in difficult circumstances, one can stand tall and be admired for their presence and character.
He believes love is not about drama or conflict, but about being present and supportive. He values his marriage to Kiki and emphasizes her role as a mother, wife, and protector, saying that true love is about nurturing and being grounded in reality.
Chat with AI
Loading...
Pro features
Go deeper with this episode
Unlock creator-grade tools that turn any transcript into show notes and subtitle files.
PodcastTranscript AI