LeBron James apologizes to wife for hardships of his 'journey' to greatness
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James has a sensitive side.
“Real men cry,” James said on the most recent Road Trippin’ podcast hosted by teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye and Cavs sideline reporter Allie Clifton.
James admitted he cried while watching The Lion King and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode when Will’s father shows up to be part of his son’s life but ends up leaving.
“Every single time, I shed a tear,” James said of the Fresh Prince episode. “It could come from obviously me being part of a single-parent household and never seeing my father and things growing up when I was a kid, but it’s just an emotional part.”
The Road Trippin’ podcast is now part of James' UNINTERRUPTED network. Full episodes can be heard on iTunes.
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James also addressed his obsessive push for all-time greatness. It included an apology to his wife, Savannah.
“I am addicted to the process. I’m addicted to the process,” James said. “It’s so funny. I just told my wife the other day, I apologized to her. She was like 'What are you apologizing for?’ I said ‘Because the journey that I’m on to want to be the greatest to ever play this game or to the point where no one ever forgets what I accomplished, I’ve at times lost the fact of how important you are to this whole thing. … I want you to understand that along this journey while I’m playing this game there will be times that I lose the fact of how important you and my three kids are – my babies are.’ ”
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During the podcast, Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving jumps in and asks James what he learned from reading The Alchemist, the popular novel by Paulo Coelho.
“The whole thing about empowerment of yourself and having your visions become a reality and the more and more that you dream and actually talk about something that you want to do, it can become true,” James said. “That was one of the one things I got out of it. As complex as that book is and as deep as that book is – it is so, so deep – I was able to figure out a way to translate it to my life at that point in time where I was like, oh I can remember when I was the 11-year-old kid and I was telling myself ‘Why me?' some days and I was always telling myself ‘OK, let’s change the narrative of why me, why us, why are we put in this position? Let’s change the narrative.’ ”
Frye also gave James props for his off-the-court work in entertainment, saying, “I give you a lot of credit man — the things you put your mark on, the thing you endure. So usually 98% awesome.”
James replied: “I appreciate that – I’m working on the 2%. I’m working on it.”
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt