Tyrese Gibson Opens Up About Abusive Childhood on Creflo Dollar's 'Your World' (Watch)
Tyrese Gibson says God's grace has enabled him to overcome a traumatic childhood in which he watched his parents' addictions consume them.
Tyrese, the "Fast and Furious" action star who rose to fame as a singer and model, was a guest on the 100th episode of Pastor Creflo Dollar's show, "Your World." On the show, he and his wife, Samantha Lee Gibson, shared how God's grace helped them overcome less than perfect childhoods.
For Gibson, drugs and alcohol took a toll on his life at a young age when he witnessed his parents abusing substances.
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"I really could not explain the mental, emotional, physical, and psychological abuse that took place in my house. My mother was an alcoholic for 27 years, my father was an alcoholic and crackhead," Tyrese revealed. "There was something inside of me that I felt greater than my circumstances. See, I am not just my talent."
While Tyrese has achieved success despite his past, he credits God's grace with enabling him to overcome those tough times.
"What the world sees is kind of the outcome of God's work and His grace. So I had to give myself permission without mentors, without a big brother, without a father to say I actually deserve better," he said. "And then every time I look to my right God's grace and His hand was on my shoulder. And then you start wondering, why me?"
After revealing that he avoided death and jail unlike some of his childhood friends, the actor and singer surmised, "clearly God had an assignment on my life."
Months before appearing on Dollar's show, Tyrese shared some marital advice that he received from the senior pastor of World Changers Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
"During our pre-marital session Pastor Creflo Dollar said 'Don't make the mistake that others make thinking so much about the future that you lose focus of the gift of the present. Be patient and present in love. You and your wife should stand on each side of your empty canvas of love and paint the picture along the way," Gibson wrote in a social media post that has since been taken down. "We feel God's presence all over this union. He's walking with us so no weapons formed — this will last."
