Recap Of Terrell Owens On Iyanla: Fix My Life

By Nathan Young on November 3, 2013

Everyone should know about the life of Terrell Owens, he is a former NFL football player who always caused scenes on the football field when he scored touchdowns. Remember this scene where he stood in the middle of the Cowboys star and made the crowd angry?

Well, Terrell Owens was more than a successful football player, he had multiple contracts to endorse products, he had a great modeling career, and he even had his own reality show called “The T.O. Show” on VH-1. But eventually everything came crashing down, and Terrell Owens wound up back in his hometown of Alexander City, AL. Terrell Owens is a popular figure at Benjamin Russell High School. He graduated from there and you can see him standing along the sidelines at most home football games at Wildcat Stadium.

I know the Alexander City area very well, I lived there for half of my life. And I graduated from Benjamin Russell HS in 2006. So yes, I do know about Terrell Owens and he has had a very rough life. It was briefly talked about on his show on VH-1, but it was never talked about in great detail until now. The Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN along with Iyanla Vanzant came to Alexander City to film an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life. And, this episode went into the deep parts of Terrell Owens life. It was sad and tough to watch.

Iyanla drives into Alex City and meets Terrell Owens at his grandmother’s home. Iyanla talks to Terrell in a tough love type of way and says his talent skills and abilities can only take him so far. What sustains you is your character, values, vision, and they are undeveloped. Terrell Owens has not had a healthy relationship with his four kids from three women and he even owes around $45,000 a month in child support. Iyanla said Terrell had maximized his talents, but he didn’t master his craft, his first craft is being a man. She said Terrell has been immature. irresponsible, and made mistakes in life. In football terms, it’s a man down on the field, that man is Terrell Owens.

Terrell was born when his mother was only 17. His mother sent him to live with his grandmother so she could concentrate on her working career. Terrell confessed that he was spanked for doing kid like things. Older, he understood the spankings was tough love. One thing that struck me, his grandmother and mother never said “I love you” to Terrell. Iyanla wanted Terrell to listen to his heart and Terrell said he was lonely. Iyanla even got Terrell to cry during some tough love. Iyanla was hard on Terrell, she said to Terrell that he had no vision on what to do next in his life. One of the tough love moments was, “what if your NFL career is over?” What do you need to do to find value and meaning in your life from this point forward? What if your purpose in life is to become the real Terrell Owens, what do you need to do to make that happen? These were some very hard questions.

Terrell’s father always lived across the street. Terrell was born from an affair his mother had with the married man across the street, he found this out at age 11. Iyanla did a wonderful job getting Terrell to go back to the point in his life where he found out the bad news about the affair. She gave Terrell permission to be mad at his mother, father, and even God. All of his childhood problems is why he causes problems in the locker room and why he loves to cause scenes on the football field. Iyanla said all the people responsible for Terrell’s physiological, emotional, and spiritual well being, failed him. And his past is why Terrell wants to clean up his path and break the cycle.

In normal family situations, if a son is in trouble, it’s the father responsibility to show up. Even Terrell’s mother acknowledged that she created a son who is not responsible. Iyanla took issue about Terrell not knowing his real father for over 11 years. Terrell has never seen his mother and father having a real conversation in the same room. That changes in this episode. Iyanla got Terrell to do some deep thinking. Think about this, when Terrell does his famous endzone dances, in his head he acknowledges that all eyes are on him, unlike his father at age 11. If Terrell does not change and acts like a real father to his kids, they will end up like Terrell 15 years down the road and Iyanla will be talking to them. Iyanla wanted Terrell to think about how he destroyed his good name, and how to rebuild it. Iyanla then clapped when Terrell asked her for help, that’s a great step!

The next day at Wildcat stadium, where Terrell is famous for football. Iyanla says there is a man down on the field, she is talking about Terrell. She brought a bunch of those yellow flags with a list of penalties, like not connecting with his children, destruction of his good name, making excuses for why his life is in shambles. Well, all of those penalties cost yardage, or parts of Terrell’s life. After picking up all of those yellow flags on the field, Iyanla wanted Terrell to quit making excuses. It has nothing to do with the media, coaches, or even the quarterback. She wanted Terrell to go back to the point of his life where Terrell’s life went downhill, and that means a talk with his father.

Terrell came into the RV carrying all of those yellow flags or penalties in Terrell’s life, and he got to talk to his father. Terrell wanted to know why he never had a relationship with his father. And why he could not hold down a real relationship with women today. The father said he could not spend time with Terrell or take his son on father and son outings because he held down two jobs. Iyanla wanted Terrell to tell his father that he broke his heart. And this made Terrell cry. The father wanted Terrell to forgive him and Terrell said he loved his father and they hugged. This was the first time the father said I love you to Terrell, and Terrell is 39 years old.

Iyanla criticized the mother and father for not coming together for the benefit of Terrell. Terrell said he missed out on a lot of things in his life and that hurt him. Iyanla got the mother and father to forgive each other which should help Terrell move forward with his life. Terrell has never seen his parents come together and he is 39 years old. Terrell had a lot of childhood baggage that Iyanla helped to correct. At the end of the episode, we learned that Terrell is building a healthy relationship with his father, and Terrell is spending quality time with his kids so he will not repeat the same problems his father caused him when he was a child. Terrell still has some lonely moments, but he is now concentrating on building a career outside of football.

This was a tough episode to watch. Many people have known about the problems from Terrell Owens. It’s tough to have all of your dirty laundry aired on national television like that. But hopefully, this episode will be the turning point for Terrell Owens life. Terrell could be an ambassador for the Alexander City area, and the area really needs the help. More than 10,000 jobs have disappeared from the area plus the area was recently named as the fifth poorest region in America. Alex City could use all the good news it can get right now, and I hope Terrell Owens will be able to keep clean and be able to help Alex City to get better. Everyone deserves second chances, It can be done!

Learn more about Iyanla: Fix My Life at: http://www.oprah.com/own-iyanla-fix-my-life/iyanla-fix-my-life.html.

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