Titus O'Neil Discusses Adopting LGBTQ Child And Writing 2nd Book
Titus O'Neil has enjoyed a multi-hyphenated career that included football, and wrestling – he's a WWE Global Ambassador and Warrior Award recipient – nonprofit leadership through his Bullard Foundation and philanthropic endeavors, most recently aiding in the Hurricane Ian relief efforts in Florida. He recently added writing to his C.V., with the release of his new autobiography "There's No Such Thing As A Bad Kid."
In an interview with "The Dad Edge Podcast," O'Neill described how he documented his troubled childhood and his ability to find his sense of value as an adult.
"Every city you go to, you'll see somebody call a kid 'a bad kid,'" he said. "We never were bad kids – we were kids making bad decisions in bad environments, around bad influences, and having bad outcomes. You take those same exact kids, you put them in a good environment around good people, they'll have a greater chance to succeed and therefore they'll have greater outcomes."
O'Neill is also using his book to "get a small gauge of why I think the way that I think [and] why I parent the way that I parent." He is working on a second book about fatherhood, and he expressed hope that his next book will help people shield themselves from rude and harmful comments designed to denigrate one's family.
"You won't ever see me bash a lesbian and gay community because I had members of my family that were lesbian and gay," he said. "They were persecuted by my own family members, many of them who I still haven't spoken to."
The Joy And Challenge Of Fatherhood
O'Neill added that his adopted daughter Leah is LGBTQ and he does not allow anyone to trash-talk her based on her sexual orientation.
"I remember someone asking me, 'How's it feel to have a daughter that's gay?'" he continued. "And my immediate response, because it's the truth: 'How's it feel to have a son, that's an a**h***? Because their son is an a**h***. My daughter's sexual orientation doesn't determine whether or not she's a good or bad human being, but your son's behavior – and he's straight [and] he ended up landing in jail. So, we're not even talking in the same stratosphere when it comes to human being as a human being, regardless of my daughter's sexual preference."
O'Neill added that his daughter is "an honor roll student, she's a hell of a basketball player – most importantly, she's a very loving and caring individual that I decided to adopt because I've known her for years."
In telling his life story with "There's No Such Thing As A Bad Kid," O'Neill stated he wanted to offer readers an honest portrait of his personal journey.
"I'm not a perfect man," he said. "I know, I'm not a perfect man. I'm not trying to pump fake and portray to be one. But I know I'm a really good man and I can lay down at night knowing that I'm a really good man. And that people around me, well, if I were gone tomorrow, they would all say, that he was a great man."