There were plenty of interesting takeaways from Mike Tyson's recent chat with T.I. on the rapper's ExpediTIously podcast. The boxing champion was known for infamy, but in recent years, he's become a lovable character who just happens to have a sordid past. The business mogul and family man has rebuilt his brand, and he spoke candidly about how married life changed him.
Tyson, a father of eight children, has been married to Lakiha Spicer, his third wife, since 2009. "She swooped down on me, and told me, 'This is what we’re gonna do,' and that’s what happened," Tyson shared. "That’s why I believe in what I believe in now. 'Cause there’s no way this could be happening. There’s no way I could’ve been married to my wife. I’m not faithful enough. I’m just not that kind of guy. I don’t care about nothing enough more than my d*ck, so how am I gonna be faithful to somebody? But it worked! I got ten years with her."
Although they've celebrated over a decade together, Tyson admitted he's only been completely faithful for two. "I got two years without every f*cking a b*tch but my wife. For a n*gga like me, I had to have them every day. I had to c*m every second of the day! I’m the poster boy for Sexual Anonymous.” He added that without Lakiha he's a "savage animal."
The way he views women as he has gotten older has changed. "I look at them as the half. It makes me realize that I’m a man," he said. "And at this stage in my life, they’re my teachers. If a man doesn’t have a little bit of fear of his wife, he’s not living his life right. That’s why I got married three times, ’cause I can’t live without a wife. If I don’t have a wife, I’ll kill myself. That’s real talk. I need somebody to listen to. I’m a soldier. I can’t think on my own. I need somebody to do it."
Iron Mike also admitted that his relationship history may have influenced the way his children view the world. Tyson was convicted of rape back in 1992 and sentenced to six years in prison. According to AP News, Tyson also admitted to physically abusing hist first wife, actress Robin Givens.
“You know what bothers me, too, man? And I gotta say this," Tyson told T.I. "Why my kids don’t like black kids? They don’t date black kids. Why is that?... Sometimes I look at my daughter, and I see she’s attracted to white guys, and I think, 'I didn’t set a good example as a black man'... They must have seen sometimes when I was vulnerable and said, ‘Hey, I don’t wanna be with no one like that. He’s scary.'”
Listen to the hourlong exchange here.