Tony Hawk

I was living this paradox.

And then when we'd go on tour, it was just every single day, big exhibition, big crowd, drive to the next city, just like a touring band.

And I definitely didn't have the same formative years as any of my classmates.

The fact that it's a little tricky only because, well, I have to say, I think that the, the, the silver lining of the downfall of skateboarding and I don't mean downfall of skateboarding in general.

I mean, the popularity of it in the early nineties was that I was faced with reality very quickly and,

And it was like, oh, no, you're an adult now.

You are now providing for a family and your chosen career path is fading.

And so I had to kind of hustle and figure out how do I make this work while still skating.

And I'm thankful for those years because I loved it so much.

I wasn't willing to pick up a nine to five.

I just tried to make it work however I could.

And what I mean by that is I would do odd jobs.

I was actually a consultant for a few Hollywood shoots.

I was the skate consultant because I was too old to be the skater at age 24.

But that didn't matter.

That allowed me to be in the skate world and still do it, but have a different role in it.

But it got weird because I was thrust into, I kind of bypassed a teenage childhood and it got thrust into responsible adult all at once.

I mean, it really happened very quickly.

Well, I mean, there were definitely some milestones.

I remember driving to the water company to pay my bill in cash.