"Chris was an amazing little boy. He was always moving, always talking. He didn't get into things, but he did demand a lot of attention," Chris' mom Beverly explains. "He was a little prankster from the beginning, too. Before he could speak, he growled, hence his nickname 'Tiger Babe.'"
"Before he was talking he was making sounds. I used to sing 'Coventry Carol' [to him]. One day I heard him, without being able to say the words, actually repeating the tune... and it scared the heck out of me. It's weird to hear this little song in a minor key come floating out of an infant's room. And he could keep the beat to anything that was on television. He would just sit there and tap his foot."
"When he was two, he could harmonize. By age three, he could create his own harmonies," Beverly says. "He was a very bright child."
"When he was two and a half I took him to see Man of La Mancha, and he came home and he had memorized two of the songs. Another time we took him to a family reunion--all of his [older] cousins were eight, nine, ten years old. They all performed their trios and duets on flutes and such, and when it was all over he jumped up on the place they were performing and said, 'Hey, what about me!' and he broke into song. He could sing a two-part harmony when he was two and a half."
"He used to collect teddies. He still has most of them. And this is funny--he had a doll that I made of leftover pieces of sheet, and he called him Joey! He dragged Joey around until Joey's head nearly fell off."
"He was funny. He had a great deal of honor and integrity and he was always really offended if anyone challenged that. I think part of the reason he was funny was because he was really, really small. Tiny, almost elflike. And he was gifted in music and language skills from the time he was really small, so he sort of stuck out. He had to go to gifted classes, and that brands you in some circles. For him to survive being small and not get beat up every day, he became the funniest person in school."
"[When Chris was growing up] we were really poor, and we had only about two days of food left in our freezer, and probably a week left until the end of the month and we got more money. Someone came to our door--we lived over a store--and told us that the people who lived over another store down the way had had nothing to eat for that day and the day before. Chris went into the kitchen and got half of everything we had and handed it to these people and said, 'Take it to them.' That's Chris, and he hasn't changed."
Beverly describes Chris as "hardworking" and that as soon as he was old enough he went out and got a job. She adds, "And he was high-energy. He got kicked out of piano class because he was doing really well but the piano teacher was going crazy because he couldn't sit still on the piano bench. He was up on one knee and wagging the other and almost upside down trying to play piano."
"When he was in high school he played the lieutenant who dies in South Pacific, and he was terribly beautiful and sort of waiflike. [He had] all the people in the audience bawling. He was the last one to come out when the play was over, and they just couldn't wait to applaud him and cry again... but he came out in a hula skirt and a coconut bra! He never ceased to do things like that."
"He's a very gentle, caring person. He tends to put others' needs before his own, and that is evident in his relationship with the guys in the group. He has a kind heart and a valiant spirit. He's a great musician and a phenomenal human being, not because he's famous. I always want him to remember that he comes from a long line of dedicated musicians, and he has a responsibility to perform to the best of his
ability."
"The part that they don't see a lot of is that he's very, very sensitive. He cares an extraordinary amount for people. Everything matters to him so much. It's funny that people think he's so funny and everything--but at the same time I don't think they really realize the depth of him as an individual and how much he really cares for people."
Chris has always loved his family a great deal. Beverly recalls one of her special Mother's Day memories: Beverly's husband had just passed away and this was her first Mother's Day without him. Chris did everything in his power to make her feel more at ease; he even surprised her with a trip to Acapulco. "Even though it was a very lonely time for me, Chris showed how much he cared by just being there."
"Chris had the advantage of being pretty much grown up when this whole thing started. So, he had a good identity--he was established as who he was, and I think that's a real plus for him. Then when all the fame came along it was easy for him to handle it. Because he's real comfortable with who he is."
"He realizes more the value of friends he had before he was Chris of 'N Sync, because of hangers-on who love you just because you're Chris of 'N Sync. I think maybe he's a little more cynical about people. Other than that, he's the same person he always was."
Beverly is always there for Chris when he needs advice. "When he misses a key--I tell him. My dad was more of a perfectionist than I was and I would say, 'Your grandfather rolled over twice in his grave on that last note.' And he knows I'm the only person in the world he can call who will give him an honest answer to 'How did I do?' I always tell him the truth about his music. Now, when he says, 'Do you like my hair?', then I lie. I know that with your kids if you say, 'I hate it,' that means he's going to keep it for twenty more years. So I say 'Oh, yeah, cool, I love it! I'm going to get mine done like that next week!'"
"The bad things [about fame] are we have a total loss of privacy. We've had tour buses circling the block. His sister Emily, who is sixteen, is now home-schooling, and part of the reason for that is that people were starting to bother her to the point that she couldn't function in school. I have people who come and see me at work. I have people who call me at work. People have certain expectations of what his life is like privately and what our lives are like. I had one girl come over and she said, 'I spent the whole day worrying about what
to say to your maid.' And I said, 'As you can see, there is no maid in this house!' Their expectations are sometimes a little bit difficult to live with."
"[Chris' younger siblings] resent not having him. We've lost a lot of what we would normally have as a family. But he does manage to get home most holidays, and when he's home he spends his holidays with us. They're all just basically glad that he gets to do what he loves to do and he's actually able to make a living out of it." When he walks in the door, Beverly explains, Chris' youngest sister Taylor and his three nephews "totally attack him and for the next four hours he's like a jungle gym. He's a good brother. His sisters all tell him that."
"I wish he could fly as high as anybody can fly with what he's doing and come through it safely, and when he lands he can take off for his next adventure."
All quotes were taken from The Official
NSYNC Book and an interview from J-14 Magazine.