Stephen A Smith reveals devastating moment his father said he would never 'be anything'

Sports commentatorStephen A. Smithopened up about the devastating comment from his father that changed his life and motivated his rise.

Now a successful ESPN commentator and influential media voice, Smith once was told he would never amount to anything. He recalled the moment on the"Hang Out with Sean Hannity"podcast, saying he overheard his parents discussing his intelligence.

"My father said, 'He's just not smart. You know he's not going to be anything, and you just need to accept that right now,' and when my mother turned around and saw me seeing him say that, she was aghast," Smith told Hannity on the podcast's premiere.

"She was appalled and all of that stuff, and he just shrugged his shoulders and turned around and walked away," he added.

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Smith revealed in his memoir"Straight Shooter"that he suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia and has spoken about his struggles with reading. While he was a talented speaker, reading comprehension remained a struggle. He told Hannity the cold comments from his father came after he washeld back from advancing a gradein school for the second time.

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"My mother thought that was going to [be] something that was incredibly devastating for me, and it hurt. I'm not denying that it did. But something inside of me just was motivated to prove him wrong," said Smith.

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He also revealed he was ridiculed by neighborhood kids for being held back in school.

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"That memory still stays with me because when I got left back the second time, and this time permanently held back for the whole year, I'm sitting on the back porch, and I'm crying because I'mbeing laughed at and ridiculedby the kids in the neighborhood because all kids can be very cruel," he said.

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Smith was the first guest onFox News anchor Sean Hannity's new twice-weekly podcast, released Tuesday. Also on the podcast, Smithshut down rumorshe may consider running for president in 2028.

Speaking with Hannity, he said if he has to "give up money, it's not happening." The Democrat also noted he would be willing to vote for Secretary of StateMarco Rubioover some other prominent Democrats.

Original article source:Stephen A Smith reveals devastating moment his father said he would never 'be anything'

byJastin Mags

in

March 10, 2026

Stephen A Smith reveals devastating moment his father said he would never 'be anything'

Sports commentatorStephen A. Smithopened up about the devastating comment from his father that changed his life and moti...

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Travis Kelce Weighs in on Mom Donna's 'Massive' Home Renovations: 'She Could've Called Me'

Travis Kelce poked fun at the internet's obsession with his mom Donna's current home renovations

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• The Chiefs star said he "didn't even know" Donna was making "big, massive" renovations to her home

• Travis said his mom "could have called me" if she needed someone to "screw some door hinges in"

Travis Kelceis weighing in on the internet's hottest topic: his momDonna'shome renovations.

As the internet continues to crank out memes and discourse about Donna's ongoing home renovations, whichTMZannounced last week, Travis, 36, is also joining in on the fun.

Pat McAfee brought up Donna's big news during Travis's appearance onThe Pat McAfee Showon Tuesday, March 10. McAfee asked the tight end if he would "please post the renovations" that Donna is making to her home, which prompted a big laugh from Travis. "I didn't even know she was doing these things," Travis said. "If she needed a guy to come screw some door hinges in, she could have called me, but I guess she's doing a big, massive renovation," he added.

McAfee talked about the "breaking news" becoming such a hot topic and joked, "What a time to be alive." Travis repeated, "What a time to be alive," as McAfee said goodbye to the NFL star via video call.

Jason Kelcewas the first family member to joke about Donna's home renovation becoming news. In a post on X on March 7, Jason, 38, quoted TMZ's post with the report andwrote, "BREAKING!! Sources confirm Donna Kelce's eldest son watched 2 hours of Bluey yesterday."

Fans joked in the replies as well,writing, "Really??? I heard Madonna washed her own laundry yesterday," and anotherjoking, "I already know the biggest news of March will be Donna Kelce's renovation so I'm ready to lock it in."

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Another popular post on Xsaid, "daylight savings happened purely to give donna kelce an extra hour of daylight to renovate her home."

Anaccountdedicated to Donna's renovations, @DonnaKelceReno, was created in honor of the internet joke.

Even the official Empire State Building's account joined in on the fun, writing, "Congrats to Donna Kelce on remodeling her modest Florida home!," with a photo of the iconic New York City landmark.

Donna's home renovations became such a topic of internet discourse that the joke prompted the creation of hundreds of memes, with some earning more than 86,000 likes and reposts on X, and nearly overshadowing the news of the Chiefs star's return to the NFL.

When the news broke that Kelce was returning to Kansas City, one user on Xjoked, "Travis Kelce? Donna Kelce of Donna Kelce's home renovation's son?"

And another user quoted one post saying that March was "not the right time to break up with anybody," andadded, "Not during Donna Kelce's home renovation, no."

Read the original article onPeople

byJastin Mags

in

March 10, 2026

Travis Kelce Weighs in on Mom Donna's 'Massive' Home Renovations: 'She Could've Called Me'

Travis Kelce poked fun at the internet's obsession with his mom Donna's current home renovations NEED...

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Valerie Bertinelli recalls Eddie Van Halen saying that 'letting her go' was his 'biggest mistake'

Valerie Bertinelliis still heartbroken over the loss of her ex-husband,Eddie Van Halen— and she's immortalized their relationship on the page.

In her new memoir,Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, Bertinelli reflects on her two-and-a-half-decade marriage to the rock legend, recounting several heartfelt memories with Van Halen.

"It still breaks my heart that he ran out of time, because he was so there," Bertinelli writes of the musician, whodied at age 65in 2020. "He so wanted to be the right person, the good person that he already was. His heart was always pure. He was such a good man."

She goes on to say that Van Halen, with whom she shared a son, spent his final year "making amends" to the people in his life.

"He was cold-calling them. It was sweet— and that was Ed at the core, sweet," she recounts. "He wanted to make it right with me, too. I was told that every time I would walk out of a room, he would look around and say, 'The biggest mistake of my life was letting her go.' In our own way, we never did let go."

After meeting backstage at one of Val Halen's concerts, Bertinelli and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee tied the knot in 1981 and welcomed their son,Wolfgang Van Halen, in 1991. They were married for 26 years before their December 2007 divorce, which Bertinelli describes inGetting Nakedas "amicable" even during "the most difficult times of our split."

She explains, "We hurt each other's feelings, but we always tried to do the right thing."

TheTouched By an Angelstar shares that the former couple was very intentional about voicing that love for one another, especially during the final months of Van Halen's treatment for cancer.

"At the last Thanksgiving we shared, he took me outside and opened his heart in a way he said was way past due," she recalls. "We both did. We found a place of deep love and forgiveness for our past mistakes. My final words to him when he was taking his last breaths in the hospital were 'I love you.' I'm so grateful to have had that sense of lightness."

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Toward the end of the book, Bertinelli describes their relationship as "a flawed love" but reiterates that it was real. "I knew him for 40 years," she wrote. "Even when we were angry, we stayed loving. It changed, evolved, and grew back different but stronger than it had been at the beginning of our relationship. It healed us."

Bertinelli previously voiced a similar sentiment onThe Drew Barrymore Show, where she serves as a lifestyle expert and member of "Drew's Crew." Back in October 2025, she explained that she hasnever considered her marriage to Van Halen to be a "failure,"regardless of the fact that they eventually went their separate ways.

"We grew, we didn't work... but I don't feel like it was a failure because there were many years there that were so happy. And I have Wolfie," she explained on the show. "I just can't think of it as a failure, because I still have deep love for the man even though he's not here."

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A year prior to that, Bertinelli got candid about mourning Van Halen in a now-deletedInstagram video, making it clear that she loved the musician but did not consider him to be her soulmate.

"After Ed died, I was more than willing to put myself in the 'grieving widow' category for a man that I hadn't lived with for 20 years," she shared. "What we had together was this beautiful son that we both unconditionally loved... That's what I got out of that marriage: Wolfie, the best thing that ever happened to me. Not a soulmate."

After ending her marriage to Van Halen, Bertinelli married businessman Tom Vitale in 2011, but the pair split in 2022.

Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfectis now available in stores.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byJastin Mags

in

March 10, 2026

Valerie Bertinelli recalls Eddie Van Halen saying that 'letting her go' was his 'biggest mistake'

Valerie Bertinelliis still heartbroken over the loss of her ex-husband,Eddie Van Halen— and she's immortalized their...

Read More