John Cena Explains Why He Was Homeless By Choice

John Cena explains why he was homeless by choice before he made it big in WWE.

WWE legend John Cena recently sat down for an interview with Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast. During the conversation, Sharpe asked him about the time Cena was homeless when he moved from his hometown to California to pursue bodybuilding and wrestling.

Cena noted that he was homeless by choice. He said his father gave him an invitation to return home if things didn’t go as planned, but paired it with a blunt prediction: “You’ll never make it. You’ll be back in two weeks.”

“I was homeless by choice. A lot of people are struggling with the inability to choose. My dad is fantastic and always has been great to all of his sons, and he’s always been like, ‘Hey, you always got a roof over your head, you can always come home.’ But he also told me as I left for California from the mean streets of West Newbury, ‘You’ll never make it. You’ll be back in two weeks.’ So I don’t know if he’s a genius or he’s just an a**hole,” John Cena began.

John Cena chose to be homeless instead of running back home

Instead of letting his father’s prediction bring him down, John Cena didn’t give up. He chose to sleep in the back of his car and used his gym job to shower in the locker room, work out, get cheap supplements, work for food discounts, and survive in an environment where failure was not an option.

“But it worked. I didn’t wanna come home. So when all of my plans failed, and all my resources were dwindling, again, I had a choice. Do I stay, and if I stay, this is gonna be the roof over my head for a while. But I loved it. Like, I parked my car in the parking lot at Gold’s Gym, slept in the back, worked at the gym,” Cena continued.

“So the gym was open at four, I’d go shower, use the locker room, clock into work. On my break, I’d work out. The protein bar place is where I worked, so I get a discount on all my supplements. Every once in a while, a five-finger discount, thank you, nutrition club stores. I was well fed, I got enough rest, and I was happy, and it was by choice. This is a very fortunate story of being without a physical mailbox by choice,” John Cena said.

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