When Mr. T’s Mom Was Robbed at Knifepoint, He Rounded Up Her Attackers: ‘Vengeance is Mine, Said the Lord... So I Went Against Him’ (Exclusive)

Angela AndaloroThu, September 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Mr. T as B.A. Baracus in ‘The A-Team’Credit: Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty -

Mr. T was born the second youngest of 12 children, growing up in Chicago, Ill.

The entertainer, 74, tells PEOPLE about learning how to protect his family and stepping up when his mother was robbed on her way home from work one day

Mr. T shares more about his life in Netflix’s Untold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool

Mr. T has always put family first.

In Netflix’sUntold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool, we learn more aboutthe A-Team star’s story, including his upbringing in Chicago, Ill. Born Laurence Tureaud, he was the second youngest of 12 children in his family. As a result, he grew up a natural protector.

“I don’t know, it’s just part of being in the hood. You got to be tough,” Mr. T told PEOPLE. “That was embedded in me, protecting my mother and my sisters. I inherited it. It’s what you’re supposed to do. Some things are taught, to be tougher, but when you’re raised in our family, that’s just the things you got to do. It goes without saying you got to protect.”

Mr. T was away from the house when his mother was robbed and threatened with a knife in her Chicago apartment building, which he found out about when he received a phone call from one of his sisters.

Mr. T in ‘The A-Team’Credit: Gary Null/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

“I wasn’t at home when it happened, so I felt that I didn’t do my job, because if I was right there that minute, that wouldn’t have happened. And so I went into almost saying crazy mode. It was what I was trained as the brothers. I mean, we would practice walking down the street, if somebody jumped me, here’s what we would do. So we’d be wrestling hard and fighting,” he explained.

He continued, “My sister had called all the brothers. So when she called me, I mean, I knew when I came home, that I said, “Oh, uh-oh.” She told me everything. She was shaking, so I went into crazy mode. I said, ‘Somebody is going to pay.’ And a lot of people did. I tell everybody, I’m dedicated like the Secret Service is dedicated to the President. I’m the same way with our mother — no getting around it, no apologizing for it.”

There was one minor regret in his handling of the situation. Mr. T said, “‘Vengeance is mine, said the Lord.’ So I went against Him, so we did the vengeance thing. But they shouldn’t have touched my mother, case closed.”

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Mr. T in Oct. 2023Credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty

While some people have pitied Mr. T for his upbringing, he understood it as “a test of who we are.”

“I used to say it was rough and tough, but it wasn’t nothing. We think about it when we get together for family reunions; we laugh at how poor we were because we made it,” he shared.

“We didn’t have three meals a day. We used to say about three meals a day, ‘The only three meals we had was oatmeal, no meal, and miss a meal.’ So we used to laugh at all that,” he added.

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Mr. T explained the change in perspective came when the family realized, “A lot of people had it rougher than us.”

“I say, ‘We was poor financially, but we was rich spiritually.’ And that’s the key. That’s what helped us through because we survived. My mother would teach us to bless the food. When we would say the blessing, we would say, ‘Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the food that you give us to nourish our stomachs.’ So we never say, ‘Oh Lord, there’s not enough, this and that.’ Because the Bible tells us about being grateful. And my mother talked about being grateful,” he concluded.

Untold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool premieres globally on Netflix on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”