Mr. T is the youngest son in a family with twelve children. Tureaud, with his four sisters and seven brothers, grew up in a three-room apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes.

His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, was a minister. After his father left when he was five, he shortened his name to Lawrence Tero. There isn’t any information about his mother.

In 1970, he legally changed his last name to T.[5] His new name, Mr T., was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family.

On April 5, 2014, at the Smoothie King Centre in New Orleans, Mr T was inducted by Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame’s celebrity wing. His acceptance speech, largely a tribute to his mother and motherhood rather than wrestling, ran long and was eventually interrupted by Kane.