YANSS 235 – How Terry Crews confronted his insecurities, updated his limiting beliefs, and changed his concept of masculinity (and himself)

Terry Crews, the actor, the athlete, the artist, President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, host of America’s Got Talent  – that Terry Crews joins us to discuss his new book: Tough.

Today, Crews embodies the opposite of toxic masculinity, which one my peers in publishing said we should start calling probiotic masculinity, but in the interview you will hear how that wasn’t always the case. His new book is a detailed, transparent, confessional about who he used to be and what he did to change his mind, change his self, and change his life.


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OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK

From Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, the deeply personal story of his lifelong obsession with strength—and how, after looking for it in all the wrong places, he finally found it

Terry Crews spent decades cultivating his bodybuilder physique and bravado. On the outside, he seemed invincible: he escaped his abusive father, went pro in the NFL, and broke into the glamorous world of Hollywood. But his fixation with appearing outwardly tough eventually turned into an exhausting performance in which repressing his emotions let them get the better of him—leading him into addiction and threatening the most important relationships in his life. 

Now Crews is sharing the raw, never-before-told story of his quest to find the true meaning of toughness. In Tough, he examines arenas of life where he desperately sought control—masculinity, shame, sex, experiences with racism, and relationships—and recounts the setbacks and victories he faced while uprooting deeply ingrained toxic masculinity and finally confronting his insecurities, painful memories, and limiting beliefs. The result is not only the gripping story of a man’s struggle against himself and how he finally got his mind right, but a bold indictment of the cultural norms and taboos that ask men to be outwardly tough while leaving them inwardly weak.

With Tough, Crews’s journey of transformation offers a model for anyone who considers themselves a “tough guy” but feels unfulfilled; anyone struggling with procrastination or self-sabotage; and anyone ready to achieve true, lasting self-mastery

Terry Crews

Terry Crews is an actor best known for his action and comedy roles, including Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Everybody Hates Chris, Idiocracy, The Expendables, and America’s Got Talent. He is also a former Old Spice model and NFL player. 

Crews is also known as a vocal public advocate for women’s rights – and he is an activist against sexism, sexual harassment, violence, and abuse. He has shared stories of his own abuse both as a child and as an adult. He even spoke before Congress about it and was named, along with other silence breakers, as a group, a collective Time Person of the Year in 2017 for helping catalyze the Me Too movement.

A self-described “super-driven superstar alpha male,” Terry Crews embodies the manly ideal for millions worldwide. But over the last decade he has been a vocal advocate for re-imagining the concept of manhood and masculine norms.


Links and Sources

iTunes – Stitcher – RSS – Patreon – SoundcloudOmnySpotifyAudibleAmazon

Previous Episodes

Terry Crews Website

Terry Crews Twitter

Tough

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