Terry Bradshaw has opened up about his complicated relationship with his mother, Novis Genoa Gay Bradshaw. The NFL Hall of Famer revealed that when she passed away in August 2023, he did not shed a single tear. It was quite surprising to him because when his dog, James, died, he sobbed in a car. Looking back, the 78-year-old believes years of resentment sat unaddressed.
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The root of those complications traces back to his childhood. Bradshaw revealed he was “probably eight” when his mother told the eventual four-time Super Bowl champion he could never achieve anything.
“My mother said you’ll never amount to [s–t],” Bradshaw shared with Lewis Howes, host of The School of Greatness podcast. “I never forgot that. Never. I even told her…it’s painful.”
As a child, Bradshaw could hardly focus on school despite his best efforts. It was only after he started playing football that he learned about having ADHD and ADD. Until then, he questioned himself, and the doubt followed him onto the field too. Despite making it to the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1970 draft, he struggled heavily and put immense pressure on himself.
Now, with the release of his memoir “Looking for Terry” on the horizon, he told Howes he never felt confident as a quarterback and fear cost him his throwing motion. Bradshaw completed 51.9 percent of his passes in his career.
Yet despite being put on ADD medicine, the legendary quarterback did not go into a spiral as one might expect. What he felt was relief. Relief of finally knowing why things were as they were.
“I didn’t like that, but that did explain it; then the counseling explains it. And you’re like, ‘Oh man, I’m really glad to know I have this because now it explains that,’” he added further. “When you learn you’ve got something that’s a negative, you’ve got to find out what’s going to be the answer to the negative.”
That mindset carried over to his personal health battles. When Bradshaw was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, the Hall of Famer focused quietly on finding answers. He got surgery and treatment at Yale. An MRI for neck pain then found a Merkel cell tumor, a skin cancer that the National Cancer Institute calls “very rare.” Surgery at MD Anderson removed 27 lymph nodes, followed by six weeks of radiation. Finally, he was cancer-free. That’s when he shared the news with the world, after staying quiet for a year.
Bradshaw’s upcoming memoir, Looking for Terry, is slated for release on October 13. The book details his recent health battles alongside his lifelong struggles with ADHD, career anxieties, and family dynamics.