There was a ton of fighting between my mother and father. The kids would be thrown into the middle, to choose sides.
When I was a kid, I used to pretend to be Bond; I used to make up scenarios and irritate my sister and annoy my mother and father pretending to be someone else, so I kind of was already acting when I was a child. I just didn't really know it.
Well, I was very lucky. I was brought up west southwest coast of Scotland and my mother and father had a music shop, and so I was surrounded by pianos and drums and guitars, and music, of course.
One of the reasons I survived as well as I did was my genetics. My mother and father both had very tough lives, and boy, were they survivors.
My mother and father met through climbing and it was totally natural that I would become a climber too.
I don't think my mother and father ever had any doubts about what I was to be punished for or not. My parents come from a very strictly defined culture.
One girl who stands out was this Miami stripper. She still lives with her mother and father, and they know she strips. They call her by her stripper name, Freaky Red.
My household runs the same way it was with my parents, who were a mother and father with their kids.
My mother and father just taught me the basics: to be really kind, to really listen to people. I have never been one to put on airs and graces.
I've gone through that with my mother and father and here I was in a similar situation. I've wronged her and I've wronged the family. Because when these things happen, it doesn't just happen to you, it happens to the people around you and the family.
I was never going to do anything that would have brought shame to my family. I owed too much, and I wanted them to be proud to say that they were Bruno Sammartino's mother and father.
My mother and father met while playing chess, so I've always had a fondness for the game. If it weren't for chess, I might not be here.