How Terry Crews Turned Revenge Into Forgiveness

Published: April 2, 2026

By Movieguide® Staff

Revenge might sound good in the moment, but Terry Crews knows that, in the end, it will leave you feeling “empty.”

“When…you talk about men: revenge is better than sex,” the actor said in an episode of the MIGHTY PURSUIT podcast. “You want to get back anybody that ever doubted you, did anything wrong to you. If you could get them back, one by one, slowly — make them die slowly! It’s a fantasy that’s better than sex, and the problem with that is that it takes you right into the gutter.”

Crews knows this from experience; the BROOKLYN NINE-NINE actor recalled a moment when he brought his family home to visit his parents. His father had been physically abusing his mother “for years.”

“I got a call, and it was from my aunt, who said, ‘Hey…Big Terry [his dad] just hit [your mom] in front of your kids.’ He hit her so hard that her front tooth knocked sideways,” he said. “Now, you gotta understand, man, I’m not a 5 year-old. I’m not a baby anymore. I said, ‘get the kids out of the house. Get everybody out of the house,’ and I went over there and I looked at him and I confronted him.”

Crews “unleashed” and began hitting his dad, sharing that it was a rage “blackout.”

“You don’t feel anything,” he continued. “And that’s where I was. I beat him all over the house.”

Crews recalled, “And I thought, ‘This is it. This is the fulfillment. This is the revenge that I always wanted.’…but I remember that when I was done, and I thought there was going to be this satisfaction. It was empty. It was nothing. I just felt hollow, and it’s not what I expected.”

“I realized I was just like him,” he finished.

The actor has been open about how his father’s abuse impacted him. In an interview with CLUB SHAY SHAY, Crews shared how, years later, he started trying to rebuild his relationship with his dad.

“I need to find one thing that I am thankful for you, for,” Crews remembered telling his father, and thanked him for having him. “If you didn’t have me, I wouldn’t exist. Thank you for being my father.”

On an episode of RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS, he elaborated on that moment of forgiveness.

“By me forgiving him, by me finding one thing to compliment him and be thankful for, I was able to transcend that moment and we were able to transcend it and, and get past it,” Crews explained. “And I find there’s a lot of things that you just have to cut your losses on. Move on, and reevaluate the situation as it exists today. And now, I have been able to move on.”

Crews’ story is a lesson about the dangers of dwelling on revenge, and the redemptive power of forgiveness.

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