Terry Crews recounts his mother's 'heinous' way of checking to see if he'd entered puberty: 'It was abusive'

Actor Terry Crews said that his mother subjected him to a physical examination as a young child to see if he had entered puberty.

What are the details?

According to a report from the Atlanta Black Star, Crews — who has just published his memoir, "Tough: My Journey to True Power" — recalled the moment his mother subjected him to a physical examination to see if he'd entered puberty.

Crews, 53, said that his mother made him pull down his pants for inspection.

"She made me pull down my pants to see if I'd hit puberty," Crews said. "It was wild because I never envisioned actually being that transparent. It was so difficult because I love my mom and, to be honest, I didn't want her to go down as having done something so heinous. But at the same time, it was abusive. This is the stuff that came out in therapy, the stuff that I really had to address."

What else did he have to say?

Crews recently told USA Today that even though he spent his early adult life projecting what he thought was true masculinity, he was carrying around a heart full of weakness.

"I had grown up and lived my entire adult life with a false idea of what it meant to be tough. I walked around this world with my chest puffed out like I was the alpha male. I saw myself only as strong and powerful," he admitted. "In fact, I was weak and powerless, and everything I did was driven by shame, insecurity, and fear."

He added, "It's taken me ten years of nonstop working on myself, but I've finally come to a better place."

Crews also added that his relationship with his father wasn't much better — and that affection of any kind was frowned upon.

"[I]t's night and day," he said of his relationship with his own son. "Let me tell you. I hug my son. I kiss my son. It's a really, really wonderful relationship because I am about finding out what my son wants."

He concluded, "You think you're over things and then you hear something and you're affected. Sometimes I still feel insecure about who I am. At times I do feel scared. And if someone calls me on it, 'Hey, you scared?' I immediately want to match that challenge. This is all part of the therapy. It's all part of not getting baited because you realize a lot of these things are bait and manipulative to pull you in certain directions. Now I can acknowledge when lines are being crossed. Now I can choose which way I want to go."