John Cena is the brother all LGBTQIA+ people need and deserve. In a recent interview on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, the former professional wrestler and actor reminisced on when he used to defend his older gay brother from homophobic bullies.
Cena revealed that his brother Stephen, who he affectionally described as an “introvert” and “true nerd” – “like Revenge of the Nerds” – had a difficult time in school because of his sexuality. “Being gay in the 1980s in a small town in Massachusetts… Man, that’s an uphill climb,” he shared. “He just had a lot of character traits that weren’t in the ‘cool kid’ growl, and he’s also holding this secret that he can’t tell or talk to anybody about.” “I really feel for what it must have been like for him growing up, but I also inherited that chapter of his social constructs,” Cena continued, before revealing that coming to his brother’s defence caused him to “lose a few fights”.
After Shepard questioned Cena on their “role reversal”, highlighting how it’s more “conventional” for an older brother to defend to his younger brother, the star responded: “That sort of behaviour started at like 10-years-old for me. “I don’t think I understood what was going on.
Kids are harsh. They form cliques real fast, and we always just hung out with each other. There was enough of us to have a basketball team, which means we could do whatever we want.