Want to make LeBron James cry?
Put on The Lion King or replay a particularly poignant episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and there’s a pretty good chance you will see the King shed a tear or two or three or four.
James said Monday on the latest podcast of Road Trippin’ with RJ & Channing — hosted by Allie Clifton that “real men” do in fact cry.
And in the Disney classic when Scar kills Mufasa leaving poor Simba alone, James said, he is always left teary eyed.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I cried when I saw that movie.”
Another tearjerker for the NBA star is the Fresh Prince episode in which a young Will Smith is abandoned a second time by his biological father and left to ask, “Why doesn’t he want me?”
“Every single time I shed a tear,” James said of the episode. “It could come from me just, like, being part of a single-family household and never seeing my father and things growing up when I was a kid.”
A very candid James chatted about his childhood growing up in Akron and fulfilling the dream of bringing a national championship to Northeast Ohio on the podcast that is hosted by teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye along with Fox Sports Ohio personality Clifton.
The podcasts are recorded on Cavs road trips. This particular 1-hour, 13-minute episode with James, posted on iTunes Monday, was taped when the team was recently in Atlanta.
James also announced on the podcast that he is bringing the popular podcast into his entertainment venture Uninterrupted — a digital media company he created with business partner and fellow St. Vincent-St. Mary classmate Maverick Carter.
The other podcasts that already are part of Uninterrupted’s lineup include Open Run, a sports, art and life discussion hosted by actor Jesse Williams and Stefan Marolachakis; Dray Day, a talk with Golden State Warriors Draymond Green and Marcus Thompson about the NBA; and Ball Girl Magic, a female perspective on sports with actress Yvonne Orji and Ros Gold Onwude, the Warriors sideline reporter.
The Cavs trio joked about James now owning the podcast and whether that might mean they get a free bottle of water whenever they tape future episodes.
“I like what you guys are doing from the outside looking in,” James said.
And the Northeast Ohio references continued when he likened Fry to Little John from the Big Chuck and Little John Show, once a staple on Friday nights on WJW TV-8.
James said these side business ventures — like his game show The Wall on NBC that was just picked up for a second season — are not taken lightly.
Even as a kid, James said, he not only dreamed of playing in the NBA, but also dabbling in Hollywood.
“There are things that when I was a kid watching Fresh Prince of Bell-Air and watching the Cosby Show and watching Family Matters and things of that nature,” he said. “It was like it would be great to be just like acting in those things or be one of those kids.
“To see things come together [now] is pretty cool.”
But this work does come at a cost.
James told his teammates that he is always working to find balance in his life.
“There are times I wish my mind would turn off,” he said. “I rarely get sick. When I get sick it is because my mind will not shut off. I can’t shut my mind off.
“I can’t stop. I can’t stop.”
James said he is “addicted to the process” of perfection and sometimes the balance in his life tilts too far away from his family life.
This internal struggle, he said, led him to have a very personal moment with his wife, Savannah, just the other day.
“I apologized to my wife. She’s like, ‘Why are you apologizing?’ I said, ‘Because the journey that I am on to want to be the greatest to ever play this game or to the point that no one ever forgets what I accomplished — I’ve lost at times the fact of how important you are to this whole thing.’ ”
Trophies and accolades aside, James said his wife and kids LeBron James Jr., Bryce Maximus and Zhuri are his true pride and joy.
James usually keeps his family away from the spotlight, but he ended the podcast sharing a recording of Zhuri watching a Cavs game. The excited toddler can be heard cheering “Go Cavaliers!”
“That’s what my baby is about right now,” he said.
And so is Dad.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.