Reply #11: I think he legitimately reformed... [View All]

[vi5]

Doesn't make what he did as a kid irrelevant, but it's also not as though he tries to hide that stuff or pretend it didn't happen. I'd be more troubled if it came out that he hid this stuff, but as long as he's been in the public eye he's fessed up to it.

I don't think he's a saint or even a phenomenal actor. But I think he genuinely seems like someone who has tried at every split path in his life to take the road of improving himself and bettering himself as a person even when it was tough to do. Whether it's going from a thug to getting into music, to then trying acting, and on and on.

Does this make him as good a person as someone who might have gone through the same things he did as a kid and instead devoted their lives to helping others and working with the poor or kids? No, not as all. But then again I don't believe that the majority of us do that either, hardscrabble past or not.

I'm an atheist. But he genuinely seems like someone for whom faith and the support of clergy really helped him turn around his life and to do something better with it. And he's now a hardworking guy and by all accounts a good father and mate and someone who is up front about his past indiscretions and not afraid to talk about them openly.

I know the whole "second chances" thing is a big topic on here lately and I'm guessing that is where this OP stems from. And that's fine. It's a good question. And if this were stuff he did yesterday or last month then I might be more skeptical than I am. But it's been what.....20 years almost? I'd say this is a conversion that seems to have stuck. Hell, he doesn't even seem to get in as much trouble or seem as unhinged and a live wire as many other Hollywood stars.