At the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Terry Crews talked to The Voluntourist about his success and being vocal about sexual harassment.
By: Heather Newgen | Twitter: @hnvoluntourist
Terry Crews might just be the most positive, uplifting and energetic person you’ll ever encounter. He’s so dynamic and engaging, but that wasn’t always the case. Before he was an all-star football player, TV star, action hero and game show host, he was a kid who grew up in an abusive household where his alcoholic father severely beat his mother regularly.
COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO 2018 -- "NBC at Comic-Con" -- Pictured: Terry Crews at the 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Panel at the Hilton Bayfront, San Diego, Calif. -- (Photo by: Todd Williamson/NBC)
His father perpetually terrorized them and they “lived a nightmare for years,” however his mother didn’t leave because they had nowhere else to go. Although Crews lived in constant fear, revealing he wet the bed until the age of 14 because he was terrified of his father’s behavior, he excelled in school and earned a full scholarship to play football at Western Michigan University, where he was an art major.
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From there he was drafted to the NFL and played professionally for four teams before retiring and trying his luck in Hollywood. The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star has had a string of successes, in TV and film, but not without major setbacks, which include an addiction to porn and depression, which he openly talks about.
Another traumatizing event Crews recently became vocal about is the alleged sexual assault by the former head of the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor (WME) and top Hollywood agent Adam Venit, who Crews claims grabbed his genitals at a party in 2016. Venit, who has denied the allegations, was suspended and later demoted. Crews filed a lawsuit against WME and Venit, which was later dismissed the Los Angeles Attorney General, citing statue of limitation. But, that hasn’t stopped Crews from speaking out on the matter.
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The Voluntourist: Why is it so important to you to use your platform to inspire others and how have you seen it personally help others?
Terry Crews: When I was a kid I had a lot of questions and everyone told me stop asking them. One thing I realized is when I became an adult, I wanted to tell people what I was going through. There was always the society stigma of not sharing what you’ve been through, not telling the actual things that happen to you. What happens is if you don’t tell, bad things continue to keep happening. Like I said, when Ronan Farrow wrote that first story about Harvey Weinstein, all those women came forward. Let me tell you, I just was invigorated, I knew it was safe to come out. It was safe now. And then I had to support them. I had to show that wait a minute, because what was happening is the women were being debased. They were being called liars and I was like wait, it happened to me and the reason I was quiet is the same reasons why they were quiet in the beginning, you know.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE -- "FYC @ UCB" -- Pictured: Terry Crews at UCB Sunset Theatre on June 13, 2018 -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC)
Terry Crews: My thing is, this is what’s so wild, is that we’re not even doubting whether these events happened. They’re doubting why did people come forward? That makes no sense to me. And it’s like I don’t care if it happened 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 40 years ago. It happened and that’s the issue. There’s a lot of people that are hoping that because time passed, things are over now. It’s like well, guess what, America is still dealing with slavery. It happened. We can’t say it didn’t happen. I think as a man, and I’ve been a card carrying member of the toxic masculinity group, men have to learn how to concede. We have to say that we messed up. It’s important. The first thing that helped me change in every way was I realized that I, I made the mistakes. The first thing that I had to say, when I acknowledged my own things and then went to make amends to the people I had even wronged, then things can correct itself.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE -- "Bad Beat" Episode 505 -- Pictured: (l-r) Andre Braugher as Ray Holt, Terry Crews as Terry Jeffords -- (Photo by: John P. Fleenor/Fox/Universal Television)
Terry Crews: Then all of a sudden we can go to the next level but if you always deny, always push away, always run away, always hide, now things get worse and I refuse to live my life that way. I decided that hey, man, I’ve been very, very vocal about my own issues. I had an addiction to pornography I came out about and I wrote a book called Manhood that really dealt with a lot of things that I had already been through with my wife and family and a lot of this toxic masculinity that I had ingrained into my life, and it came out in 2014. The publishers were like, ‘What am I going to do with this book?’ Now it’s been validated in a lot of ways and I’m thankful that I was able to do that and I will continue to. I will always know that this whole thing is bigger than me.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE -- "Bad Beat" Episode 505 -- Pictured: (l-r) Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta, Terry Crews as Terry Jeffords -- (Photo by: John P. Fleenor/Fox/Universal Television)
The Voluntourist: You came from a background that didn’t set you up for success. So how did you break through the barriers and become who you are today?
Terry Crews: Wow, well I give so much credit to my wife. We’ve been married 29 years and we’ve been through everything. By myself I would have done okay, but with her and I together, we could go all the way. We could go forever. When I talk about my success, that woman is really the reason why I’m here today. I can tell you right now she saved my life several times.
Season 6 of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” will premiere on NBC in midseason. It was picked up by NBC after FOX canceled the comedy series.