Food banks, homelessness, and family members with challenging illnesses. Chris Pratt's life has been anything but easy.
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00:00Food banks, homelessness, and family members with challenging illnesses — Chris Pratt's
00:06life has been anything but easy.
00:09Chris Pratt may be a Hollywood superstar now, but his upbringing was a whole lot less lavish.
00:14The actor was raised in Lake Stevens, Washington, by his mother, who worked at a supermarket,
00:19and his late father, who worked as a miner, per Esquire.
00:23Life was not always easy in his community, where there was a local food bank to help
00:27feed the families in need.
00:29As the Guardians of the Galaxy star explained, his family was not immune to going hungry.
00:33I'm not ashamed to say that there were moments where my family would need to eat from a food
00:37bank."
00:38While doing a live chat on Instagram with the CEO of Feeding America, Pratt encouraged
00:42others to seek help when they needed it, too.
00:45He encouraged viewers,
00:46"...but it's important, too, to destigmatize the idea that if you need help, it's okay
00:51to accept it."
00:52It might seem hard to believe now, but Chris Pratt spent a chunk of his early 20s without
00:58his head or a home to call his own.
01:00In fact, the A-list celebrity once lived in a van with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy painted on
01:05the side, as he shared on Facebook.
01:07Pratt also explained on the SmartLess podcast,
01:09"...I did like a semester of community college that I was paying for myself, and I hated
01:15it.
01:16I became a door-to-door salesman."
01:17I sold coupons.
01:19It was one of these kind of multi-level marketing schemes."
01:22While Pratt did well in the job, which involved selling coupons for businesses in Colorado,
01:27he did not succeed in breaking out on his own.
01:30One of Pratt's friends lived in Maui and convinced the struggling actor to move there.
01:34The star worked for Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and camped on the beach with his pals every
01:39night.
01:40He eventually landed his first movie role, but Pratt often found it extremely challenging
01:44to find food during the early days of his career.
01:47On Instagram, the actor recalled,
01:5015 years ago, I felt the same passion I feel today, but I had very little opportunity.
01:55I had to hustle hard and go hungry.
01:58I had to eat sardines and figure out how to get gas money.
02:01I never had a plan B. I never stopped believing.
02:04Ever."
02:05Despite how difficult it was to find steady work as an actor, he refused to give up his
02:10dreams.
02:12Chris Pratt's father, Dan Pratt, passed away after a decade-long battle with MS.
02:17According to Chris, his father was a tough person who did not always react well to his
02:22son's softer ways.
02:24In an interview with Men's Health, the Everwood star explained,
02:27"[He was a boxer and a bouncer.
02:29I am a sensitive person.
02:31My dad knew that when I was a youngster, and it kind of made him dislike me, because he
02:35probably grew up in a world where a guy like that could get eaten alive."
02:40In a candid interview with GQ, Chris also discussed his father's illness, saying,
02:45When he lost his ability to walk, he gave up on life.
02:49Men of his ilk are defined by their ability to provide physically for their family, and
02:53when that's taken away, that was a joke to him."
02:56Chris also indicated that his father never verbally admitted that he was proud of his
03:00son for his achievements.
03:02However, this did not bother the Jurassic World actor, as he knew that his father was
03:06pleased.
03:07As Chris told GQ, his dad always watched whatever he starred in and kept up to date with his
03:12acting career.
03:14Chris Pratt has an adorable son named Jack, whom he shares with his former wife, Anna
03:19Ferris.
03:20While Jack is reportedly quite healthy now, according to Us Weekly, he faced some life-threatening
03:25struggles in his formative years that ignited genuine fear within Pratt and Ferris.
03:30In her autobiography, Unqualified, Ferris revealed that her son was born prematurely,
03:36which caused him to face several health complications.
03:39She explained,
03:40On our fourth day in the NICU, the pediatric neurosurgeon sat Chris and me down to tell
03:45us that Jack had some severe brain bleeding and there was a chance that he could be developmentally
03:50disabled.
03:51Chris and I did what we could, which was hold hands and hope and face it together.
03:56In an interview with People, Pratt described his best day, which came with finishing up
04:00the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
04:03After filming for months on end, Pratt was finally reunited with Ferris and their son
04:07Jack.
04:08As Pratt explained, he was so happy to see baby Jack that he started bawling, taking
04:13after his comedic parents.
04:16Jack apparently wanted to stop his father from crying, so he began making silly faces
04:20to cheer him up.
04:22Chris Pratt has faced a wave of negative scrutiny and backlash on social media over the years.
04:28For instance, the actor was criticized for his alleged involvement in a homophobic church.
04:33Regarding the scrutiny, Pratt stated in an Instagram story that he was not anti-LGBTQ,
04:39specifying,
04:40"...I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from
04:44the judgment of their fellow man."
04:46While Pratt is usually able to brush off criticism, there was one particular incident where trolls
04:51led him into a depression.
04:53It all started when the actor posted an Instagram photo of his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger
04:58Pratt, and wrote,
04:59She's given me an amazing life, a gorgeous, healthy daughter.
05:03Her heart is pure and it belongs to me."
05:06Critics assumed this was an insult to Pratt's former wife and his son Jack, who faced numerous
05:11health complications from birth.
05:13Pratt responded to the hate in an interview with Men's Health, expressing how much this
05:17hurt him, saying,
05:19"...My son's gonna read that one day.
05:21It's etched in digital stone.
05:23It really f----- bothered me, dude.
05:24I cried about it."
05:29Pratt's wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, has since apologized for her comments.
05:30Pratt's wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, has since apologized for her comments.