Charles Barkley may be the most prominent voice in NBA coverage for his longtime role on Inside the NBA, but it took a lot of hard times and hard work to get there. Barkley was raised by the women in his life due to his father walking out when he was a baby. As a result, he was forced into being a leader of his family at the age of 16.
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Barkley says he has been criticized before for not showing emotion, even in serious situations like the death of a loved one, but there’s good reason for it. Without a strong male role model in the house growing up, Barkley had to assume that role himself (ironically, considering his infamous Nike ad from back in the day), and so he kept those emotions inside.
That stoic example helped keep his family from panicking when times got tough, but Barkley is torn about whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, as he said a few months ago on an episode of The Steam Room with Ernie Johnson.
“Probably is one of my biggest faults, I will admit that, not getting emotional,” he said. “But the point I want to make is, bad stuff is going to happen. I don’t mean to be unemotional, but I know I have to keep going. No matter who you are in life, good stuff’s gonna happen, bad stuff’s gonna happen. You just have to keep going.”
Barkley wasn’t always that way, as he spent years being angry at his father for the way he abandoned the family.
Charles Barkley’s experiences as a boy still influence his life
Barkley once told a story on 60 Minutes of how he used to wait by the mailbox for money his dad promised he would send to help support a young Charles and his mom, but it never came. “My mom and grandma were working their behinds off,” he said, which they had to do because no help ever arrived from his deadbeat dad.
Growing up without a dad wasn’t the only hardship of Barkley’s childhood. His younger brother died as an infant, and the family battled poverty for a long time. He once recalled how, as he was gaining some renown as a high school basketball phenom, his mom and grandma pooled their money together to buy him a nice pair of Nikes. But he was embarrassed because he wasn’t allowed to wear them off the court.
Barkley’s toughness is evident in the way he’s handled himself in his career. Long derided for finishing his career without a ring, he rolls with the punches because he’s secure with himself and the work he put in. He’s honest to a fault when talking about the current NBA, because he’s unafraid of any potential backlash he might receive.
Being unemotional, as he admits, may not be the perfect way to get through life, but it’s worked pretty well for him.
