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Mike Tyson: 'My life's been a waste. I'm a piece of s***'

Jul 14, 2010, 11:00 AM EDT

21 Comments

Uh oh, someone’s off his meds again. But in a completely non-violent way. Mike Tyson, who’s always been good for a provocative quote, goes way, way out there in an interview for the August issue of Details Magazine. It’s hard to tell if the former heavyweight champ is cycling through a bipolar phase, or has actually come to some sort of an epiphany about his life. He did, after all, suffer through the death of his young daughter last year. Tyson:

“Greatest man on the planet? I wasn’t half the man I thought I was. So if there’s a big plan now, it’s just to give — it’s selflessness, caring for the people who deserve it. Because I think I’m a pig. I have this uncanny ability to look at myself in the mirror and say, “This is a pig. You are a f***ing piece of s***.”

“Objectively, I’m a pig. That’s why it’s very difficult for me when people are offering me all that adulation and love. I just feel dirty. These people want to hug me, they want to touch me, and I’m feeling like, “Get your f****** hands off me.” I feel that energy of theirs, and it’s just filth and murder. It’s not that they’re bad people necessarily; it’s just that they did something bad, and you can feel it on them. I have to go and wash up before I touch my own kids. And after I lost my 4-year-old daughter? All these people reached out and I realized: I just want to be of service to people. I need to help. I need to have something, finally, that I can offer people in this world.”

Tyson currently stars in a reality series on Animal Planet, Taking on Tyson, in which he races pigeons. But even this seems to be causing him distress.

“I went back to Brownsville with my reality-TV-show crew, they’re doing a segment about my childhood racing pigeons, and Brownsville’s all upscale now. They got surveillance cameras, buildings that were abandoned cost, like, a million now, and I’m thinking, My life must’ve been a lie, ’cause there’s nothing there that looks like my childhood. This white woman come up, and I’m thinking, Wow. When I was a kid, she would’ve been robbed and raped and left for dead. This is a real strange scenario, and I just wanted to cry. I’m like, “Who am I? Where’s my heritage?”

I’ve heard of people’s demons working full time, but Tyson won’t even let his off for a freakin’ 10-minute coffee break.
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Everything you think you know about Mike Tyson is wrong [Details]

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  1. scott - Jul 14, 2010 at 2:41 PM

    Why do writers even give this guy one word of type. Has always been a loser and always will be.

  2. salty - Jul 14, 2010 at 3:00 PM

    If you live like a wild animal, you die like a wild animal.You are what you say you are.

  3. J. Moore - Jul 14, 2010 at 4:07 PM

    I personally feel sorry for “Iron Mike”, it’s pretty obvious that he’s dealing with some demons in his mind, I hope he’s able to find some peace before he leaves this earth.

  4. milcon - Jul 14, 2010 at 4:08 PM

    Yes Mike. You are a piece of s**t, and likely always will be.

  5. labos - Jul 14, 2010 at 4:30 PM

    So why all the hating on Tyson? Did anyone ever expect him to be a boyscout? He was raised on the streets, rose to fame because he had an amazing talent and trainer, lost it all because he couldn’t handle the fame and attention (much like Tiger), went to jail, put on a few good shows a la biting Hollyfield’s ear off, blew a bunch of dough, acted like a kook a few times, and now wants the world to know he agrees that he is a kook. Truth is, since his questionable situation with the skank in Vegas, he hasn’t really hurt anyone, so why hate him? I mean seriously, he’s no OJ.

  6. 27xchamps - Jul 14, 2010 at 4:31 PM

    BROOKLYN BABY …. TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN

  7. James - Jul 14, 2010 at 5:51 PM

    Let’s hope Mike finds that vehicle that will allow him to give back the rest of his life. His story is what will help people and his giving time and effort to a worthy cause(s) will hopefully allow him the peace that is so allusive apparently in his life. I wish him the best and hopes he can help others with his remaining years.

  8. JTS - Jul 14, 2010 at 6:47 PM

    Tyson obviously has some major issues to work through, but I find his tendency toward introspection quite admirable. Unlike some of the hateful commenters on this board, it shows that there is quite a bit of depth to this man.
    Iron Mike came from a background that most of us can’t begin to fathom. Almost without exception, he has been surrounded by leeches and hangers-on. Now, not surprisingly, he’s having a tough time coming to terms with his humanity.
    But at least he’s trying to figure it all out, and for that I commend him. I, for one, hope he finds the peace that we all deserve.

  9. Harry Ball - Jul 14, 2010 at 7:35 PM

    I feel bad for this guy. His downward spiral started when his trainer, Cuss died. He loved that man like he was his father. He’s never been the same since then. And letting Don King get his claws in him didn’t help either. At some point you have to start taking responsibility for your actions, but this guy at no time in his life had a role model to teach him how to be a man. Sad story indeed.

  10. Harry Ball - Jul 14, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    I feel bad for this guy. His downward spiral started when his trainer, Cuss died. He loved that man like he was his father. He’s never been the same since then. And letting Don King get his claws in him didn’t help either. At some point you have to start taking responsibility for your actions, but this guy at no time in his life had a role model to teach him how to be a man. Sad story indeed.

  11. John - Jul 14, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    News flash Mike, we are all pieces of s***. Anybody out there who is all that want to dispute that. Welcome to the club Mike.

  12. B R S - Jul 14, 2010 at 9:41 PM

    Well said John…well said.

  13. bunbun - Jul 14, 2010 at 9:44 PM

    This just goes to prove that he has been in close intimate contact with brett farve, ternell owings,mike ervin, roger goddeell, ad nausem, et al etc. You people have earned it.

  14. bbro277 - Jul 14, 2010 at 9:48 PM

    Mike, stop being so hard on yourself we all have our ups and downs. Life is filled with obsticles, it’s not heavan so live it day by day. And please don’t forget your young ones; being strong for them.
    We love you Mike

  15. WIZARD OF OZOLA - Jul 14, 2010 at 10:58 PM

    WHITE PEOPLE IN BROWNSVILLE ?? GOT TO BE SPECIAL FORCES OR SOME CRAP LIKE THAT. I WORKED HARLEM , HELL’S KITCHEN AND LOWER EAST SIDE SELLING BOOZE BUT YOU COULDN’T PAY ME ENOUGH $$ TO STICK MY WHITE JEWISH ASS IN BED-PIG STY OR BROWNSVILLE. NOT UNLESS I HAD RPGs AND OZUIs COMING OUT OF MY BUTT. MIKE GOT CONFUSED WITH WILLIAMSBUGH, HAPPENS ALL THE TIME TO BI-POLAR FREAKS THAT DON’T MED UP EVERY DAY. TRUTH.

  16. WIZARD OF OZOLA - Jul 14, 2010 at 11:00 PM

    WHITE PEOPLE IN BROWNSVILLE ?? GOT TO BE SPECIAL FORCES OR SOME CRAP LIKE THAT. I WORKED HARLEM , HELL’S KITCHEN AND LOWER EAST SIDE SELLING BOOZE BUT YOU COULDN’T PAY ME ENOUGH $$ TO STICK MY WHITE JEWISH ASS IN BED-PIG STY OR BROWNSVILLE. NOT UNLESS I HAD RPGs AND OZUIs COMING OUT OF MY BUTT. MIKE GOT CONFUSED WITH WILLIAMSBUGH, HAPPENS ALL THE TIME TO BI-POLAR FREAKS THAT DON’T MED UP EVERY DAY. TRUTH.

  17. Bruce - Jul 15, 2010 at 1:15 AM

    A plea to Ron Artest! Give Mike Tyson your therapist’s phone number for God’s sake!

  18. missy - Jul 15, 2010 at 2:48 AM

    now that you know what you are, you can change. God can change anyone and he can certainly change your heart as well. He is knocking, all you have to do is answer the door

  19. Mark - Jul 15, 2010 at 11:34 PM

    Former athletes broke and broken. Oh, boo-hoo. Prancing around cities in limos, drinking, gambling, whoring. No thought of consequences. Fathering children with no sense of responsibility.
    Soaking up the adulation. Guess what you punks– you never evolved. Never figured it out. Money, cars, clothes, tigers, whores, children.. never brought you happiness. And now you have all these regrets. Just stop. Stop doing interviews. We don’t care. If you disappeard tomorrow, we wouldn’t notice.
    What goes around, comes around.

  20. Johnny Salami - Jul 24, 2010 at 11:36 PM

    Another angry white man heard from.

  21. Catmandu - Sep 17, 2010 at 11:28 PM

    Good job scott. What a great comment. “loser”? really? You and milcon are a couple of f’cking idiots. Mike Tyson accomplished more on a global scale by the time he was twenty, than the two of you jackasses will ever do together in your entire lives.
    I’m certainly not a fan of everything he’s done in recent years, but like other rational educated people, I try to understand it. I hate the fact that a great athlete went over the edge. But it happened. I don’t like that it happened but I do respect the man and the gravity of all things considered.
    As John said earlier, no one here need be casting any stones. Think about it next time.

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