6Severely and constantly bullied in public school, a young Eminem’s mother sued the local school board for “failing to sufficiently protect her child”.
In 1982, a lady by the name of Deborah Mathers sued Dort Elementary School because her 9-year-old son Marshall was bullied and beaten so severely that he suffered several injuries, including a cerebral concussion, repetitive loss of vision and hearing, and other such ailments. The lawsuit sought $10,000 in damages, but was later dropped on grounds of government immunity.
7 Steeped in poverty, Sylvester Stallone sold his dog, Butkus, for $50. After he sold the script for Rocky, he bought him back for $3,000. Butkus made an appearance in Rocky.
He was so desperate for cash in the initial days of his career that he was forced to sell his bullmastiff – Butkus – for $50 to “this guy called Little Jimmy”. After he sold the ‘Rocky’ script, Stallone approached Little Jimmy again in a bid to buy Butkus back, and only succeeded after he paid $3,000. Both Butkus and Little Jimmy make an appearance in ‘Rocky’.
8 The inventor of Fender Guitars – Leo Fender – never could play the guitar.
Life dishes out some pretty startling ironies. Consider this, for example: Leo Fender was the man who invented Fender Guitars, could not, for his life, tune a guitar, much less play one. He used to bring in musicians to test out his instruments, because he, personally, was not very musically inclined.(source)
9 James Cameron was a truck driver before he entered the film industry – something he was inspired to do after watching Star Wars for the first time in 1977.
And while writing The Terminator, he was homeless; despite this, he sold the rights of the film for $1, on the sole condition that he could direct it.(source)
10 A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he lacked creativity.
At one point in his life, Walt Disney was hired by the Kansas City Newspaper. The same newspaper editor later fired him for “lacking creativity”. Yet another one of life’s many ironies.(source)
