“Kids Would Just Punch Me”: Bodybuilding Giant Lou Ferrigno Once Confessed Heartbreaking Struggles With Bullying Due to His Hearing Disability in Childhood

Lou Ferrigno once talked about how difficult it was for him to grow up with the hearing loss. Fitness icon, Lou Ferrigno is also known for his role in the TV series, the Incredible Hulk. In an interview, Ferrigno talked about how his bullies helped him build a hunger for power. The hunger for power eventually lead Ferrigno to pursue bodybuilding as a career. In 2021, Ferrigno got a cochlear implant, but he wished it happened a long time ago.

Lou Ferrigno is a retired professional bodybuilder. He has won an IFBB Mr. America title and is even two times consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe. He has been in the documentary film Pumping Iron, which shows the rivalry between him and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bodybuilding as a career was never easy on Ferrigno because of his father, who always wanted him to be the way he liked.

The school life of Lou Ferrigno

In the interview, Ferrigno said, “My parents would clap their hands I hadn’t responded,” and continued, “I was diagnosed with hearing loss you just mentioned like 80-85%.” And, during that time, Ferrigno was just three or four years old. 

Lou Ferrigno got his hearing aid during his early days of school. During those days, the hearing aids made him feel weird because there was a strap to the chest first. Secondly, a wire went down to the ears. The old-fashioned hearing aids were not as advanced as today’s technology, and the audio was terrible. “It made me feel like a Martian freak,” Ferrigno said. 

“I was more like an outcast,” Ferrigno said and continued, “Sometimes kids would just punch me in the chest just to be mean to break the hearing aid.” And as if the bullying wasn’t enough, Ferrigno said, “My father would give me a beating and said don’t come home if you can’t fight your own battle.” This kind of situation can even put the brightest soul into the clutches of depression. But Ferrigno never took these in a mean way; he used them as his motivation to become powerful. 

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As a child, Ferrigno was a fan of Hulk comics, and as a power-hungry kid, it gave him the motivation to keep moving forward in his life.

The impact of superheroes in the life of Ferrigno

Who doesn’t love superheroes? Even Ferrigno, as a kid who had hearing loss and bullies, always made him feel down. Ferrigno felt powerful by looking at Hulk because he could blow up stuff in no time. It was a way he could vent out his problems.

The TV series, The Incredible Hulk, was perfect for Ferrigno. The superhero he admired as a child ended up playing the role of that. Ferrigno stands as a living example for people who are struggling with any kind of inability, whether it be hearing or anything else.

It doesn’t matter how you were born. Everyone has their own success story, and these struggles, in the end, make a successful human being like Lou Ferrigno.

ALSO READ – Arch Rival Lou Ferrigno Once Confessed What Gave Arnold Schwarzenegger an Edge Over Him: “He Was a Selection Diamond and I Was…”

Do you also have a favorite superhero that you like and relate to? If you do, then why is it?