He grew up in New York. He watched his mother Lorna be beat up by many of her boyfriends. He never knew who his real father was. His mother died when he was 16. By 19 he was found by D'Amato, an aging but violent father figure of a trainor. D'Amato died before Tyson became champ.
Found some more:
"Sex is not a great issue with me anymore," he says. "I'm just guilty about my sexual conquests when I was younger. I'm no longer a threat to white society, black society."
"My biggest fear now is to go to a New York state penitentiary then I'll see all my demons," he says. "My family, people I know, put me in that den of iniquity. I could easily be right there with them because, really, I am one of them."
"One of my friends once saw another guy's (criminal) record and said, 'Look, this guy is a born troublemaker, just a loser.' I had to tell him, 'No, that's my record and it doesn't include my juvenile history.' I'm supposed to be a quote-unquote 'superstar.' But look at my record. Oh, damn. I'm a super jailbird in super-max."