Boris Kodjoe recently opened up about a part of his life many fans may not know—the racism he faced as a child growing up in Germany.
During an appearance on The Pivot Podcast, hosted by Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor, the actor detailed how being biracial shaped his earliest experiences and how those moments stayed with him.
Kodjoe, who was born to a Ghanaian father and a white German mother, explained that his childhood was marked by constant bullying from other kids. “I was faced with racism, with bullies every single day, growing up in Germany, because I was different,” he told the hosts.
He described how classmates grabbed his hair or rubbed his skin, unsure if what they were seeing was “real.” Some would ask if people in Africa lived in trees — comments Kodjoe said were rooted in “misinformation and fear.”
His father left when he was three, and growing up without him made the situation even harder. Kodjoe said his mother did everything she could to help him understand his identity and self-worth, even when she couldn’t fully relate to the experiences he was having.
“I didn’t have somebody to protect me. I didn’t have somebody to explain to me what this was,” he said. “My mother did an extremely admirable job in putting a sense of pride and confidence in us… She tried her best to give us a sense that we had value.”
With no one who fully understood the isolation he felt, Kodjoe looked for another outlet. That outlet became sports. “It presented me with an outlet, something that I could sort of let out all my aggression and my anger and the pent-up frustration I felt every day,” he explained.
He channeled that energy into tennis, eventually earning a scholarship that brought him to the United States in the 1990s.
A back injury later ended his athletic path, leading him toward modeling and acting instead. It's the career shift that would eventually introduce him to audiences worldwide.
Following the release of the interview clip online, many viewers shared similar experiences of growing up as the only Black or biracial kid in predominantly white spaces. Others called attention to the determination it takes to keep moving forward in the face of early adversity.