What was sooo bad about Howard's childhood that fucked him up?

[vaginapoosie]

I would wager that most of his issues manifested themselves once he became a rich and spoiled brat who gets everything he wants. His issues all revolve around his inability to cope with not getting what he wants.

agreed.

i mean, everything he's said on the radio about his childhood was not horrible in the least. he sounded like he had an average childhood with average issues. every time he starts to bitch and moan about his childhood i want to throw my fucking radio across the room. howard obviously does not know what true horror is growing up. if he had to spend one day in my childhood growing up or anyone else's for that matter who has been through much worse, he'd learn to shut his mouth and be grateful for the life he had and currently has. instead he pisses it away with complaining and anger and wondering why his BFF jimmy kimmel and he are no longer connecting. gimme a friggin' break.

[vaginapoosie]

The only story from Howard's childhood about his parents being abusive was (if true) that his mom wouldn't allow him to have any anasthetics when getting his teeth worked on at the dentist. If this was done in cases other than the typical teeth cleaning that is pretty bad.

well, from what he lets on, it seems like his mom might be moderate on the NPD scale, thus why he has it... because it's hard to be raised by an NPD mother and not manifest some narcissism yourself in life. the teeth situation is a typical situation that some kids may have to withstand due to an NPD parent. but from what howard has said about her she sure as hell wasn't a mommy dearest like my mother was. if anything howard's mother was the "poor victim" NPD mother, which just leaves a kid feeling guilty all of the time, and if not careful emotionally incestual n a sense with their kid. but it's much better than having a mother who sabotages everything you do and downright hates you. so he needs to get over it and just be glad he has an imperfect mother who loves him.

[JDDaBadAhz]

[WholeAssholeOut]

The only story from Howard's childhood about his parents being abusive was (if true) that his mom wouldn't allow him to have any anasthetics when getting his teeth worked on at the dentist. If this was done in cases other than the typical teeth cleaning that is pretty bad.

Everything else is just him being a bitch, and as years go on and he whining increasese, I'm more and more likely to believe these are exaggerations or outright falsehoods

i had a dentist for years that would refuse to use anesthetics when i was a kid. i have poor tooth enamel and had over ten cavities filled by him. he would say he was "cleaning" my teeth, but he would "clean" with a drill. i asked for novacaine and he said it wasn't necessary because he was just "cleaning." weird thing was my mother and sister went to the same guy and he used anesthetics with them. dentists are like sadists but with better magazines.

as for howard, fuck him, but i understand that he needed to embellish to make his stories more entertaining. i don't fault him for that.

[MissKitty]

His Mother and his face.

[gotnolife]

his mother is what fucked him up. his father was just a father and his mother was a fucking crazy person.

This.
All of the stories he tells about his mother are frightening. Serious wack job she was.

[Bob Mitchum]

Not getting braces.

It could have drastically changed his face, thus freeing him from the torturous iron mask that is his face. His whole life would have been different.

Actually yeah. I think that's the main thing if one has to be picked.

Also his mother's general presence of course. I don't believe many of his various childhood stories about being beat up and stuff, but I believe what he says about his mother. Unless she's a complete act on the radio too, she was probably overwhelming when Howard was a kid.

Overall, his childhood was likely not awful, but it's all a matter of perspective.

[Robert Higgins]

It's all an old tired act that I, for one, don't buy into any more.

[Beths Arab]

* lived in a neighborhood where black people started moving in
* allegedly was beaten up by other students in highschool
* moved away to attend university
* attended summer camp
* had 2 working parents
* boo hoo, his father was strict

this makes him require 40 years of psychiatric visits? How many people grew up poor, or had only 1 parent, or were molested by relatives, or had parents who were alcoholics or God knows what, and they turned out normal?

[Art]

Howard's perceptions about his childhood used to fascinate me. He has always used the challenges he faced growing up be a justification for what he turned out to be. In the end, he proves himself to be a disingenuous liar who will say anyhting to make himself look good. I grew up in a pretty good neighborhood with a boy who grew up to become CEO of one of the most successful corporations in the world (Starbucks). I read his autobiography with great interest. In the chapter about his childhood, he described our school and neighborhood as being mediocre, at best, and poor. That wasn't my perception at all. It was simply our neighborhood. I realized it made him feel better about how far he had come when he described his beginnings as awful. I suspect Howard is the same way.

[ohmicah]

The worst experience, according to Howard, was his dad putting a microphone in front of his face and asking him to articulate his thoughts. Oh the trauma.

Same thing with the Jacksons. Their dad taught them how to sing and dance and perform. Look at the resentment he got for trying to make them into an act someone would watch.

[vaginapoosie]

The worst experience, according to Howard, was his dad putting a microphone in front of his face and asking him to articulate his thoughts. Oh the trauma.

Same thing with the Jacksons. Their dad taught them how to sing and dance and perform. Look at the resentment he got for trying to make them into an act someone would watch.

exactly. i wish one of my parents took the time to encourage my talents and push me to do something great.

[Nemo]

Howard lies about everything even though the truth is harmless.
Some people are born defective. Howard is one of them.

[isabella]

I think the underwear/ass temp thing was it?

if true, this would do it.


he came from a solidly middle class family who had enough money to send him to an expensive private university without taking out loans or getting a scholarship. i get the impression that his parents were also old time libs who really believed in integrated neighborhoods and didn't want to move from roosevelt until it got really bad. they're eccentrics.

[isabella]

Howard's perceptions about his childhood used to fascinate me. He has always used the challenges he faced growing up be a justification for what he turned out to be. In the end, he proves himself to be a disingenuous liar who will say anyhting to make himself look good. I grew up in a pretty good neighborhood with a boy who grew up to become CEO of one of the most successful corporations in the world (Starbucks). I read his autobiography with great interest. In the chapter about his childhood, he described our school and neighborhood as being mediocre, at best, and poor. That wasn't my perception at all. It was simply our neighborhood. I realized it made him feel better about how far he had come when he described his beginnings as awful. I suspect Howard is the same way.

i grew up thinking i was poor. it seemed as if we were always on the edge of poverty....( in spite of growing up in an upscale LI neighborhood, in a beautifully furnished home with a housekeeper)my parents always arguing about money. i thought we were always on the edge of living on the street.
when i finally "grew up" i realized it was just my mother's insecurities and neuroses that made me fearful. i recognize howard's neuroses as being quite common in suburban middle class jews(my parents were also very liberal).
so maybe all the BS about jews being obsessed with money is true.

[Nemo]

if true, this would do it.


he came from a solidly middle class family who had enough money to send him to an expensive private university without taking out loans or getting a scholarship. i get the impression that his parents were also old time libs who really believed in integrated neighborhoods and didn't want to move from roosevelt until it got really bad. they're eccentrics.

Howard lies about everything.
How do we know the Sterns stayed? Maybe they weren't the first to bolt Roosevelt but who says that they were the last?
If you hear old segments on Howard101 Ray always says that Howard is exaggerating(Lying).
Sorry I must question everything he has ever said. Truth is never an option to Howard even when it is harmless. The fucking guy always has to be the victim....even when he eventually takes in his homeless family after Sandy.

[newcastlefan]

* lived in a neighborhood where black people started moving in
* allegedly was beaten up by other students in highschool
* moved away to attend university
* attended summer camp
* had 2 working parents
* boo hoo, his father was strict

this makes him require 40 years of psychiatric visits? How many people grew up poor, or had only 1 parent, or were molested by relatives, or had parents who were alcoholics or God knows what, and they turned out normal?

being born a jew is generally all it takes to screw you up. you're confronted with the rest of the world constantly telling you you're inferior before you're old enough to know better. after that women take chunks out of you till you're questioning everything about yourself. then if you're successful you start worrying about people realizing that you're not as good as they think you are and taking everything away. if you survive all this until about 50 you realize everyone else is an asshole. if not, you spend a lot of time in therapy paying others to help convince you that everyone else is an asshole and you're no worse than anyone else.

[newcastlefan]

exactly. i wish one of my parents took the time to encourage my talents and push me to do something great.

i think my father thought encouraging my insecurities was the way to push me to develop. I don't know if I'll ever know if he was right or if i developed in spite of his sabotage.