QUOTED: Rob Ford humbly shares his personal experience with bullying

QUOTED: Rob Ford humbly shares his personal experience with bullying

(Image: Christopher Drost)

When you are overweight like I’ve been all my life, you get made fun of and it’s not good growing up. There are many different types of bullying, but being called fat, all that stuff, it bothers you.

Mayor Rob Ford, speaking candidly about being tormented as a child at a publicity event for Bullying Awareness Week yesterday. We commend Ford, who waged a very public and ultimately unsuccessful effort to lose weight earlier this year, for his sincere and deeply personal admission (read Denise Balkissoon’s Toronto Life feature “The Bully Mob” for a look at just how serious childhood bullying can be)—though his timing isn’t exactly optimal. Just this morning, first-term city councillor Michelle Berardinetti decided to leave Ford’s executive committee because she says she’s tired of constantly being pressured to vote with the mayor. In other words, she’s sick of being bullied. [Globe and Mail]