'That's My Dad' Book Offers Look at the Fathers Behind Celebrities Like Darryl Strawberry, Michael Franzese (Interview)
CP: How hard was it for successful people to be open and vulnerable about their dads?
Pellegrino and Battaglia: Really, it was fairly easy. I think because many of the people we interviewed had good relationships with their fathers, and they were deeply appreciative of what their fathers did for them. And talking about your father often brings up good memories, which enables people to speak more freely of those memories. In situations where the fathers were not that good, I think people have learned that it's important to talk about the things that were also bad about their fathers and the need for forgiveness.
CP: How did Darryl Strawberry break the cycle?
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Pellegrino and Battaglia: Darryl cannot remember a time that he and his father did anything together, or any advice his father gave him about anything. "I had to learn how to be a man on my own. My desperation to get myself out of that life was the driving force behind my success. I was determined to get out and become somebody," Strawberry says in the book. Because of the way his dad treated him, he was determined to break the cycle of abuse in his own family. "I never laid my hands on my children. I broke the cycle of every abuse. I allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my life and change me from the inside out. I attached myself to men who were great examples of what a real man and father should be. My father was a man who did what was done to him. He repeated the cycle of abuse. I broke it. I have forgiven him and I pray for him."
CP: How do those who did not have a good father become successful as fathers?
Pellegrino and Battaglia: At times, a loving, involved father is not present in the home, even for many successful people. We interviewed two individuals who either had no father or had an abusive father. And yet, they still had someone in their life that replaced their non-existent father to encourage them, believe in them, and be the father in their lives. And for those who had no fathers in their lives, this is a book about forgiveness. We can still follow the biblical admonition of honoring our fathers by forgiving them, and releasing ourselves from the chains of bitterness, anger, and resentment that do more to hold us down than lift us out of our pasts to secure our futures.
To get your copy of That's my Dad! or for more information visit thatsmydadmovement.org
