Pro Surfer and Shark Attack survivor Bethany Hamilton: I wouldn't change a thing | FAIR GAME — Transcript

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1. 0:00welcome to fair game I'm Kristine Leahy
2. 0:02when today's guest was just 13 years old
3. 0:04she was attacked by a shark while
4. 0:06surfing with friends in Hawaii she lost
5. 0:09her left arm and more than half of her
6. 0:11blood but she survived the movie Soul
7. 0:13Surfer was made about her she's one of
8. 0:15the top surfers in the world she's a
9. 0:17mother of two and she has an inspiring
10. 0:19new documentary Bethany Hamilton
11. 0:22unstoppable Bethany Hamilton is here
12. 0:24today and you are you're so much more
13. 0:27than a shark attack survivor but it is
14. 0:30how a lot of people first recognize you
15. 0:32or it's the inspiration that came from
16. 0:34what you were able to do after that day
17. 0:36how often does that day come up for you
18. 0:39um I mean really unless someone else
19. 0:42brings it up I hardly ever think about
20. 0:44it or the fact that it's on Halloween
21. 0:47every Halloween it comes up but yeah I'm
22. 0:51like so thankful because I've healed
23. 0:53completely from like my fear and like
24. 0:57the trauma of that day and I just I
25. 0:59don't know I live freely
26. 1:01you were very resilient even in the
27. 1:05hospital kind of going through what you
28. 1:07did is there something specific that
29. 1:09stands out to you most even in just
30. 1:10maybe the way that you handled it I
31. 1:12definitely say the piece that I had like
32. 1:16I just think of like such having such a
33. 1:19crazy accident happen at the age of 13 I
34. 1:24literally I didn't even hardly cry I was
35. 1:27at peace that like God is in control of
36. 1:29this situation even at that young age
37. 1:31like I just I knew that it was gonna be
38. 1:34okay and I was just thankful to be alive
39. 1:38after the attack and after the making of
40. 1:40Soul Surfer you became quite a celebrity
41. 1:43but you said it's not something that you
42. 1:44really enjoyed you didn't like it so
43. 1:46much what was the lowest point for you
44. 1:47oh my gosh I literally like dealing with
45. 1:50one arm was like to me doable that
46. 1:54becoming so well-known all of the sudden
47. 1:57and being so young and you know we grew
48. 2:00up in a small town in Hawaii I
49. 2:03everyone and all the sudden I'm
50. 2:04world-renowned and everybody wants a
51. 2:06piece of me and a piece of my story and
52. 2:08it was mind-boggling for me but I did
53. 2:13see a lot of beauty and being able to
54. 2:15share how I overcame and getting back in
55. 2:18the ocean and bringing hope to people
56. 2:20who maybe we're going through a time
57. 2:22feeling hopeless and that definitely
58. 2:25drove me to continue getting out and
59. 2:27sharing my story and just sharing how I
60. 2:30get through life who kind of guided you
61. 2:31through that
62. 2:32well definitely my family was so key and
63. 2:36just keeping me grounded and I would say
64. 2:38even being in the ocean kept me grounded
65. 2:40like I would travel I remember my first
66. 2:43one on a media tour like less than a
67. 2:46month after I lost my arm I don't know
68. 2:49why I did that but I did and yeah during
69. 2:54that time I would come home and just get
70. 2:58back in the ocean and that was like my
71. 2:59grounding place definitely my faith in
72. 3:02God and just knowing that God's gonna
73. 3:04use what seems like such a terrible
74. 3:07thing for good and we're gonna get
75. 3:08through this
76. 3:09and yeah as time went on like I just
77. 3:13continued to do it I loved and kind of
78. 3:15bounce back and overcame my fear of
79. 3:18sharks and yeah became even more than I
80. 3:23dreamed they could did you ever at any
81. 3:25time say to anyone like hey I don't want
82. 3:27to do this I don't want to be in the
83. 3:28public eye I don't want to make a movie
84. 3:30I don't want to do press appearances oh
85. 3:32my gosh I think half the time I would do
86. 3:35interviews my answers were like yes or
87. 3:38no it was like so big but I think that
88. 3:41was also the child in me and you know I
89. 3:44was only 13 years old and I was supposed
90. 3:48to be like playing with my friends and
91. 3:50at the beach and not like doing
92. 3:52interviews and writing a book and doing
93. 3:55publicity tours which of course those
94. 3:58weren't only for so long but still yet
95. 4:00it was a lot as a young girl but you
96. 4:03know I had my parents and I had a youth
97. 4:05leader from my church who was like
98. 4:07always loving on me and encouraging me
99. 4:09just to like stay strong like get past
100. 4:12it and I saw I found a lot of joy too
101. 4:16like hearing other people's stories of
102. 4:18like them overcoming and being
103. 4:20encouraged by hearing my own and that
104. 4:23definitely helped me to keep going at it
105. 4:25yeah I mean something must have changed
106. 4:27cuz you you now you have another
107. 4:29documentary coming out you do do some
108. 4:31press you're big on Instagram so now you
109. 4:33kind of embraced the celebrity and
110. 4:35definitely like my new film coming out
111. 4:38unstoppable
112. 4:39that was kind of an accident accident oh
113. 4:43my god I wasn't planning on like making
114. 4:45a documentary it was it started off as
115. 4:48like a high performance action piece so
116. 4:50we started off like just traveling
117. 4:52filming me surfing in my element the
118. 4:55best I could and we were planning to
119. 4:57just make like a six to ten minute short
120. 4:59film of me just like going to town on
121. 5:01waves and then my filmmaker just talked
122. 5:06me into it's like we need to retell your
123. 5:07story like even more pure with the real
124. 5:10you and I was like okay fine we can do
125. 5:12it part of the documentary it focuses on
126. 5:15motherhood for you you have two babies
127. 5:17now and it's something that you've said
128. 5:19that you struggled to embrace that why
129. 5:22it's definitely okay so I always really
130. 5:25wanted to be a mom and I knew that it
131. 5:27was definitely gonna be a part of my
132. 5:29future Lord willing and then when my
133. 5:33husband and I got married we like okay
134. 5:34we'll hang out for five five or so years
135. 5:37and then maybe we'll start to have kids
136. 5:39and then a year after I was married I
137. 5:43found out I was pregnant and I just did
138. 5:46not feel ready for that moment I felt
139. 5:48like it's just like this overwhelming
140. 5:50feeling of like I'm not ready for this I
141. 5:52don't want to be a mom yet and I just
142. 5:55had fears and a lot of those fears
143. 5:58weren't really like true fears that I
144. 6:00think were were they like just that I
145. 6:06wouldn't be able to surf and yeah that
146. 6:12just caring for a baby with one arm
147. 6:15I felt like holding like the Lynne there
148. 6:17and newborn and their heads all wobbly
149. 6:19and like just dealing with that and like
150. 6:21changing diapers and just like
151. 6:23life-changing and like being you know
152. 6:26pull pulled away from my
153. 6:28which isn't even true like I think of
154. 6:31anything it's brought us closer together
155. 6:32and like more United and yeah I'm
156. 6:37totally capable of caring for a newborn
157. 6:39baby diapers yeah now I'm like I love
158. 6:43being a mom it's my favorite role and
159. 6:45just sharing life with them makes life
160. 6:49that much more richer I think well those
161. 6:51fears that you had I think are pretty
162. 6:53normal for most women who have kids
163. 6:56they're not sure if they know how to
164. 6:57take care of the baby or if they can
165. 6:58still work and do their job so why was
166. 7:00it so important for you to share that
167. 7:01now yeah for me to share that in my
168. 7:04documentary cuz I mean being a surfer is
169. 7:07definitely doable just continue surfing
170. 7:09but be a mom and dealing with like the
171. 7:12postpartum body and whatnot but I think
172. 7:15I just I knew a lot of women were facing
173. 7:19those same fears and struggles but
174. 7:22there's it's not talked about a lot and
175. 7:24so I wanted to talk about it and share
176. 7:26how hey I'm like all of you I had fears
177. 7:30and struggles but I wouldn't want it any
178. 7:33other way looking back on that time like
179. 7:35I'm so thankful for my little man and
180. 7:38being able to be his mom and like he's
181. 7:41just along for the ride in our little
182. 7:43journey of life and he's so awesome
183. 7:47there's a letter I found that you wrote
184. 7:49to your son Tobias I would love to hear
185. 7:53from your perspective what is said I
186. 7:54thought it was really cute okay um my
187. 7:58main thing was just letting him not get
188. 8:00knocked down by the hard things in life
189. 8:01that's gonna come his way because all of
190. 8:03us face difficult times maybe not a
191. 8:06shark attack but your own version of
192. 8:08little shark attacks in life maybe big
193. 8:11ones maybe small ones and I just wanted
194. 8:13to encourage him to like hey you can
195. 8:15overcome these and to not give up and
196. 8:17just keep charging like getting past
197. 8:20those tough times that come your way
198. 8:22he's already started surfing at just 3
199. 8:24years old that's really really
200. 8:26impressive but was there ever kind of
201. 8:28any thought for you like do I let him
202. 8:30serve do I want him to do this
203. 8:32no I like more than anything hope he
204. 8:35takes on surfing and has a passion for
205. 8:37the ocean like I do because I want to
206. 8:39spend a lot of time with him
207. 8:40and if he likes the ocean then I get to
208. 8:42be in the ocean a lot more too but I
209. 8:45also want to see the different passions
210. 8:47that he comes up with and help cheer him
211. 8:51on and those but I definitely hope he
212. 8:53like really gets the surf bag so he can
213. 8:55go surf together how do you teach a
214. 8:57three-year-old to surf so with Tobias I
215. 9:00take him on the surfboard with me so I'm
216. 9:02like riding with him and he has those
217. 9:03little floaties on and he is so hooked
218. 9:07he like asked me to go and can you stand
219. 9:09up
220. 9:10yes he does a lot of laying down and
221. 9:13sometimes he stands up and sometimes I
222. 9:15stand up with him it kind of depends on
223. 9:17the waves and conditions we have and he
224. 9:21he absolutely loves it like he totally
225. 9:24gets the big smile on his face and I'm
226. 9:27definitely trying to keep it just pure
227. 9:28fun and like definitely not pushing him
228. 9:31or I just like say hey like do you want
229. 9:34to go surf lives are gonna be fun for it
230. 9:36like we call them BIOS waves so we'll be
231. 9:39driving in our car and where we live
232. 9:40like the ocean is always there usually
233. 9:42so he'll be like oh there's bias waves
234. 9:45it's like makes my heart just like
235. 9:47filled with joy there will be a day when
236. 9:51he's old enough to understand who his
237. 9:53mom is and what you've been through he
238. 9:56might even have some questions about
239. 9:57sharks if he's out there swimming I've
240. 10:00had that conversation with he already
241. 10:01talked about sharks and because his
242. 10:04cousins they're a little older than him
243. 10:05and they're always like antsy last time
244. 10:07to shark and so it's definitely gone
245. 10:09through his mind and I'm always just
246. 10:12encouraging him like hey most sharks are
247. 10:15really friendly and if anything they
248. 10:16stay away from us because that is the
249. 10:18truth sharks don't want to be like
250. 10:21around people and like a lot of sharks
251. 10:24are ten they tend to be loners so I just
252. 10:28remind them that like most sharks are
253. 10:30nice and they're friends and we want to
254. 10:32love on them and be friends to them too
255. 10:34I think a lot of people who had been
256. 10:36through what you went through and it was
257. 10:39your dream and your you were doing so
258. 10:42well at this sport and it was kind of
259. 10:43stripped from you they would regret it
260. 10:45they would look back and say they wish
261. 10:46it never happened you say the opposite
262. 10:48you say if you went back you wouldn't
263. 10:50have it any other way how is that I know
264. 10:53it's crazy
265. 10:54that wow if you could just somehow
266. 10:56choose your life path but I know
267. 11:01sometimes I'll imagine life with two
268. 11:02arms and like it's hard not to be like
269. 11:04wow that would be amazing but at the
270. 11:07same time I just think of like all the
271. 11:10beauty and good that has come from the
272. 11:12loss of my arm and overcoming it the way
273. 11:15that I have in just seeing the lives
274. 11:18transformed by just being able to share
275. 11:20my story and like yeah it's really so
276. 11:24special and I believe that all of us
277. 11:26have our own story and we can share it
278. 11:27in different ways and maybe not unlike a
279. 11:29huge international level but just
280. 11:32amongst the people that you love and
281. 11:34care for and like being open to share in
282. 11:37your pain so to say that I think it's
283. 11:42just so worth it