Tony Hawk revealed on Sunday that he’s dealing with a “chronic” health issue from his skateboarding career.
During an appearance on the podcast Club Random with Bill Maher, Maher asked the skateboarder, “Do you have injuries now that you still are dealing with?”
Hawk responded, “The biggest one, the most chronic one, is my neck because I just had so many whiplashes through my life.”
The 56-year-old added that he received stem cells a couple months ago for his neck and said, “I’m just now feeling the positive effects.”
Hawk recalled the very first time he got hurt when he was 11 years old.
“I got a concussion, knocked out my front teeth and I literally woke up in the ambulance and my first thought was not, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ My first thought was, ‘Why did I fall on that trick and how can I do it better?’ And I think that was probably a defining moment in my career,” he told Maher.
Newsweek has reached out to Hawk via email for additional comment.
Hawk got his start at just 9 years old when his brother gave him a skateboard. By the time he was 12, he was winning amateur contests in his home state of California, and by 14, he was a professional skateboarder. Today, he’s a member of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame and the California Hall of Fame.
On the podcast, Hawk laughed while saying he’s “stubborn” and “obsessive,” which is what helped catapult him to success.
“My mom used to always say I was ‘determined.’ That was her way of speaking nicely when her friends were like, ‘Your son’s a terror.'”
Hawk made headlines last week for his reaction to a young skateboarder’s impressive trick that was shared by the X Games.
Hawk gave a standing ovation for Ema Kawakami, who perfectly executed three back-to-back 900s.
“He’s got it, he’s got it!” Hawk said before Kawakami landed the final spin.
“Imagine doing THIS in front of @tonyhawk @selema & @paulzitzer,” the caption of X Games’ video read. “@ema__kawakami just became the first ever person to do THREE back-to-back 900’s at @thvertalert! #XGames #Skateboarding #WorldsFirst.”
On June 27, 1999, Hawk made history at the X Games by performing the 900 for the very first time. In his career, Hawk has won 12 World Championships and 13 X Games. He also invented over 80 tricks, including the 900, the airwalk, the Madonna, the rodeo flip and more.
In addition to skateboarding, Hawk has become known for his iconic messages he shares on X, formerly Twitter. Despite his popularity, many people have had a hard time recognizing him and he often documents these encounters to his 4.3 million followers.
