The radio host and 'DWTS' champ opens up about the guilt he still carries on this week's 'Running Wild With Bear Grylls.'
Bobby Bones is getting candid about his tough childhood on this week's Running Wild With Bear Grylls.
The radio host and Dancing With the Stars champion joins Grylls for an adventure in a Norwegian fjord on Tuesday's new episode -- traversing giant rock formations and rappelling down a 300-foot waterfall -- and along the way, he opens up about the painful past that's inspired his outgoing public persona.
"I do stand-up so I can feel love," he admits in ET's exclusive preview. "For me, I never had that...My mom was an addict, a lot of drugs and a lot of alcohol. She died in her 40s. So she was never really present even though she was there."
Bones gets emotional as he recalls the feeling of displacement he had as a child. After his biological father left the family when Bones was just "five or six," he lived with his grandmother for a time, but never had a room of his own. The Arkansas native recalls sleeping on couches and keeping his clothes and possessions stowed underneath.
"We never had a real, live human conversation, my mom and I didn't," he recalls. "And I loved her, and I still love her."
However, Bones admits to still carrying guilt about his late mother's struggles. "She got pregnant with me when she was 15 years old, and so she never had a shot," he notes, wondering to himself if she would have had a more "valuable" life if not for him.
See more of their conversation in the video above. The new episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls airs Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NatGeo.
Bones' win on season 27 of Dancing With the Stars was a bit controversial, but the always-candid comedian spoke exclusively with ET last fall about how his thick skin helps him ignore any haters that might discount his championship alongside pro partner Sharna Burgess.
"I have a humongous mirrorball in my living room that I look at and kiss every night before I go to bed. If anything, I think me winning last year showed a lot of people and celebrities that you don't have to be a great dancer to win. You have to learn how to dance, but you also have to be great at engaging with the audience," he said. "The backlash we still get is only from the people who are way too obsessed with that show. The hardcore Dancing With the Stars people, they need to get over it. Everybody else, all my people and the silent majority, we're in it together. We rock! They all need to shut up."
Check out a flashback to his DWTS win in the video below!
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