To call their divorce messy would be like calling World War II noisy. His relationship with actress Robin Givens naturally gets its own section. After bankruptcy, a media pariah with a loyal fan following needs to think outside the box. He knows he’s a character, and while he may be too old and tired at 46 to play the tabloid clown, he appreciates that some of his antics are hilarious (as well as potentially lucrative) in the retelling. His own outrageousness leaves him slightly awe-struck. He’s found sobriety, but he hasn’t undergone a personality transplant. Tyson recollects his scandals with a tranquillity that thankfully doesn’t dilute the absurdity. Fame and fortune followed, and that’s when a new set of troubles began. At one time he was on the fast track to a lifetime behind bars instead he became the youngest boxer ever to win the WBA, IBF and WBC titles.

His life was eventually changed by boxing manager and trainer Cus D’Amato, who became a surrogate father to him and got him to take his athletic talent seriously.

Juvenile detention led to boxing mentors, who could see at a glance that those metal fists of his were being wasted in alleyways. Beating the daylights out of people gave him his identity, his self-respect. At 10, he was battling bullies who traveled to his block to take him on. Living in drug-infested, crime-ridden neighborhoods (his family moved from hell to the devil’s toilet is how he characterizes it), Tyson developed a reputation as a street fighter. Tyson tells us that his mother, a “country girl” at heart lost in the inner city, drank to ease the pain and that for a long time he was confused about the identity of his real father. Tyson palms this off as a joke by Lee, but it’s a poignant indication of the deprivation that marked Tyson’s Brooklyn childhood.

PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The TimesĪn early photo of a white mother and her baby are projected in place of the baby pictures that weren’t taken when Tyson was born. A rebranding campaign is obviously underway at financially strapped Tyson headquarters, but the compassionate context that’s provided for this recovery tale isn’t misplaced. But he has something that isn’t encountered all that often in the theater - an authentic voice.ĭirected with finesse by filmmaker Spike Lee and written by Tyson’s wife, Kiki Tyson, the production is more of an autobiographical show-and-tell with video backdrop than an apology tour. Tyson’s diction isn’t meant for the stage.

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