If his heart-pounding, action-packed performance on Prime Video’s “Reacher” is any indication, Alan Ritchson is not someone you want to mess with. But it turns out, he has a forgiving heart — even for his bullies.
In an interview published Tuesday with The Wall Street Journal, the actor remembered the “strange” encounter with one of his high school bullies where he asked for a selfie. The bully was now a fan.
“Before we left Florida, I ran into one of the guys who teased me in high school,” he said. “He wanted a selfie. I was happy to oblige, but it felt strange.
“He forgot what he did, but I didn’t,” Ritchson said of the interaction.
Earlier in the interview — which ran as an as-told-to article from journalist Marc Myers — Ritchson remembered being an outcast in his Niceville, Florida hometown, noting from the top that there were “plenty of mean kids” growing up.
“As a kid who was an artist but didn’t know it yet, I had my share of bullying,” he recalled. He said the majority of boys his age were athletes. “Early on, I wasn’t physically built the way I am now, and I loved expressing myself through music, singing and in-line skating. Not ideal for a guy in an area where all the dudes wore mullets and pulled up to school in four wheelers.”
The actor said he was also teased for being a late bloomer. When he didn’t have hair on his legs like the rest of his pubescent peers, he was publicly humiliated.
“As a very late bloomer, I used to pray that hair would grow on my legs and armpits,” he said. “One day, I was in the high school cafeteria in my gym shorts when a kid shouted. ‘Hey, everybody, Ritchson doesn’t have any hair on his legs!’ Everyone laughed. I was mortified.”
Then, recounting his post-fame encounter with one of those bullies asking for a selfie, Ritchson indicated the longterm effects such teasing had on his self-esteem. “I still don’t like wearing shorts,” he said.
But for better or worse, Ritchson said he’s needed to get used to being recognized in public — from strangers and ne’er-do-well acquaintances alike.
“All the time,” he said of the frequency he’s recognized on the street. “We were just at a Waffle House in a small Georgia town. They couldn’t process why I was there.”
“Reacher” Season 2 is streaming now on Amazon’s Prime Video.
