Claressa Shields — The Real Boxer Behind “The Fire Inside” — Opened Up About Sharing Dark Moments On-Screen

Women in sports have had a much-needed and long-overdue spotlight shined on them this year, and I can’t think of a better way to end 2024 than with a film magnifying the name of one of this country’s unsung heroes: Claressa “T-Rex” Shields. At just 29, the Flint, Michigan native has built an enviable career in the boxing world, which includes not one but two Olympic gold medals, two world champion titles, 2018’s Female Fighter of the Year, the World’s Best Active Middleweight Female Fighter, Undisputed Female Middleweight title-holder between 2019 and 2024, and many more.

The Fire Inside explores Claressa’s life from when she first entered a boxing gym to her journey to becoming the first American woman to win gold in boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. From childhood trauma to an unbreakable bond with her coach Jason Crutchfield, fans will get a taste of the remarkable fight Claressa held in her heart, as well as the mat. Blood, sweat, and tears were just a roadway to greatness for her. 

Ryan Destiny portrays Claressa in this biographical drama, while Brian Tyree Henry stars as her trainer. Barry Jenkins adapted the screenplay from her 2015 documentary T-Rex, while Rachel Morrison made her directorial debut with the project.

I sat down with Claressa to learn more about the making of the film, her heartbreaking journey to the top, and more.

BuzzFeed: When were you first approached about turning your story into a movie? Was there anything you were hesitant about bringing to the screen?

Claressa Shields: The opportunity came two months before the 2016 Olympics. I received the email, and I responded to the email. I then made the phone calls and got in contact with everybody, but we didn’t get the contract and everything situated till a year after the Olympics. Well, after I won the Olympics again. So they sent the contract. There was no hesitation. I just want to have everything right in the contract and know what the story would be like — which part of my life would I be sharing? Which Olympics would we be focusing on? Is it going to go into my professional career or just my come-up? These are the questions I had to ask. 

Barry Jenkins wrote the screenplay for The Fire Inside. What was it like working with him?

I didn’t have to do much work, and that just shows how great he is at what he does. We met and talked for about four hours. I asked him, “What is your perception of my life? Because if you’re going to write a story about my life, I need to know what you think first.” He gave me a spiel, and I told him, “Close, but let me tell you what my story was really about.” I told him where he got it right, where he got it wrong, or this is what you forgot, or this is what you overlooked, etc. Barry asked me a couple of follow-up questions and made sure that I was comfortable speaking about my sexual abuse and how I was raped when I was five. 

Honestly, for this film, I wanted them to see everything. I wanted them to feel everything because I was not ashamed of what had happened to me. I’m not ashamed and I’m not a victim, I’m a victor. Two weeks or three weeks later, he sent me a script. He told me the script would only go through if I read and approved it because it’s my life. I read it three times and I thought it was great. We only had to make two changes, and he immediately rewrote those scenes over, and the rest is history. Barry’s such a great writer and person.

How did you land on the title and were there any other titles you were considering before deciding on The Fire Inside?

The first title was Flint Strong. I remember when Rachel hit me up. She said, “We’re changing the name of the movie, and I want your input.” I think she sent me two or three title options, but The Fire Inside felt so self-explanatory. I was like, “I think that’s a great one!” Rahel told me everyone on the team else said the same thing.

Were you a part of the decision making process at all when it came to casting or any of the behind the scenes aspects?

I gave my analysis of who I thought should play me, and I had that specific girl go to the audition, but from there, I let them do their job and cast who they thought was right. So, I wasn’t involved in the final decision.

I attended your chat with Angela Yee and Ryan in NYC in October. During the event, you revealed that you didn’t think Ryan was the right person to play you at first. At what moment did you realize she could pull it off?

I wasn’t there on set, so it wasn’t until I saw the movie that I realized she was the perfect choice. Ryan and I could never catch each other behind the scenes or anything. I’m sure if I didn’t like the movie, or I didn’t like her boxing, or if I didn’t like something, they would have changed it to where I liked it, but I didn’t have to. Ryan trained, you can tell she trained her butt off. She drank protein; she ate the fruits, the vegetables, the meat — I mean, you can tell she bulked up, and I was just so proud. I was like, “Oh my god, I’m so happy that someone is taking this seriously!” You don’t know how much that meant to me. This is her breakout role as an actress in a feature film, and she has been nominated for so many awards. I’m just so happy for her!

Wow, it’s interesting learning that you weren’t there behind the scenes. Did you have anything to do with the training process? I know Ryan called on Michael B Jordan, who recommended his trainer for Creed, Robert Sale.

Rob Sale was her trainer. I let everyone do their job because I still had to do my job [laughs]. I’m still an active fighter. So ,even if I wanted to be involved in the training and boxing portion, I think I would have been too hard on her.

Some may be surprised to know that before filming picked back up in 2022, Ice Cube was originally attached to play the role of Jason Crutchfield. Did you and Ice Cube have the chance to connect before Brian Tyree Henry joined the cast?

I was devastated when I heard that Ice Cube wasn’t playing Jason anymore. I could’ve definitely seen him as Jason. Ice Cube was the one! But then Brian Tyree came and he embodied Jason Crutchfield so well! I don’t know how he did it, but he did it. From the clothes he wore, the hats….man, listen, I was around Jason for so many years of my life, inside, outside the ring, at home, in restaurants, driving in the car, like we spent so much time together. So, when I was watching the film, I was like, “Man, this is crazy! This guy really just dived into being Jason.” Jason was happy about his portrayal as well. I was happy everybody was portrayed the right way. It was accurate, and everybody is still alive to witness it. It was one of those things where I was like, “Wow, this is just so, so amazing!”

At first glance, this film might seem like a sports biography about another great athlete, but in reality, it’s so much more than that. It’s a story of complicated measures with complex layers. We explore your family dynamic, as well as the sexual abuse you experienced as a child. Your rape and the difficult journey of rebuilding your relationship with your mother was handled with such care.

During my teenage years, I did not have a good relationship with my mom. From the time I was nine years old till I was like 15 or 16, I loved my mom but I didn’t like her. My mom accepted that. We accepted that we didn’t mesh…that we didn’t get along. Before the documentary came out,  I never talked about my upbringing. Then one day, I was talking to Jason, and Jason was like, “How come you don’t tell nobody what happened to you?” And I was like, “I don’t want to upset my mom.” Being raped at five and having to stay with my grandma till I was 10, it put a lot of anger in me. I didn’t want my mom to feel like I was still angry at her, but in a way, I was. I just told Jason, “I don’t want to upset my mom. I don’t want to show that I’m upset at her about something that happened so many years ago, and kind of put the blame on her.” I had never talked about it with her, but Jason encouraged me to talk to her about what happened and how it made me feel towards her.

It was one of the toughest conversations to have because I grew up staying with my grandma, and I couldn’t be with Briana and them. I just remember feeling like, “Dang, my mom chose this guy, who was her boyfriend at the time, over me?” I had to go stay with my grandma, and I couldn’t be with my brothers and my sisters. I was very angry, and I felt abandoned and betrayed. I kept doing interviews and they were trying to force it out of me, and it just became too hard to hide. So I talked to my mom, and I was just like, “Ma, you know, I got raped when I was five.” And she said, “Yeah.” I said, “Why would you let that happen? Why didn’t you put him out? Why did I have to go?”

That conversation we had made me love my mama. She told me that it wasn’t that she didn’t believe me, she couldn’t believe him. When she gave me that perspective — I was 17 years old at the time — that she was in love with a guy and she couldn’t believe that someone she was in love with would hurt her daughter. Then she told me she sent me with my grandma because she wasn’t over him yet, and he was threatening to hurt me, claiming that I lied on him. She had to get over that. When she left him and got rid of him completely, that’s when I came back to stay with her and my siblings. I can understand this coming from a woman, you know? I get it. And it wasn’t just any boyfriend or man. She had a kid with this guy. That kid is my younger is my brother, who’s three years younger than me.

I told her, “Mom, I always thought you picked him over me. I always thought you just abandoned me, that you believed him over me, and that you took his side all these years.” That made me angry and not like her, but having that conversation with her and hearing her side of the story made me feel a lot better. I went to God about it, me and my mom went to God together, and I forgave her. I forgave her for not keeping a closer eye on me. I forgave her for thinking that she abandoned me. I forgave all the anger and hate that I had toward her, and that’s why we’re so close now. I love my mom. I think that families need to have these conversations, you know, so they don’t harbor inside. I think talking about it was the best thing I ever did with my mom. It changed my life. It made me less angry. I remember thinking she was such a terrible lady. She’s my mom, but she’s a terrible lady. I was happy to finally say my mom is not terrible. She’s a loving woman. She’s human, and we all make mistakes.

But I’m happy. She apologized for how hurt I was and for not leaving him sooner. She was open enough to talk to me and be real and say, “This is what happened. I couldn’t protect you then, but I protected you after I found out. I sent you with grandma. That man was talking about how he was going to hurt you. I wasn’t going to let that happen.” She removed me from the situation. So, I have to give her kudos for that. I think some conversations have to be had when you’re grown. You can’t have them when you’re a kid, because you don’t have much understanding about things.

Thank you for sharing that with me. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time to hear that such a traumatic experience had such a transformative effect on your life. You said you were able to let go of a lot of anger after speaking with your mom, but I also think it would still be understandable if you still held some pain in you because of it.

I don’t have any pain about it. I hate that it happened to me, but I think the pain I had was the part of my mama, not that situation. Of course, nobody has to explain what rape feels like, but I’m saying that the pain from inside of me was really because I felt like my mama didn’t believe me…that she abandoned me. To know that she didn’t do that took a lot of pain away in that situation.

I’m happy that you were able to have that emotional and physical release. I’m also glad that you had boxing to help channel those emotions during that time. What did the sport mean to you when you first got introduced to it, and what does it mean to you now?

It honestly holds the same meaning. I love boxing so much! man. From the time I walked into the gym and saw those two guys sparring for the first time to the day, I had my very first boxing match, threw my first punch, and even the time I got punched in the face, I just love boxing! I love going to the Olympics, the world championships, the Pan American Games, the nationals — I love tough competition, a war, a fight to come out on top, to lose and come back and then win. Boxing is the ultimate high for me. So, boxing still means just as much, but now I could be a little bit more flashy with it [laughs]. Now that I’m pro, I can have a rapper or band play as I’m walking out, I can wear nicer clothes coming out of the tunnel, and do all these great interviews. and sell the fire. It’s still just as exciting as it’s ever been.

And it shows! You should see the way your face lights up when you talk about it. One scene that stood out to me was when you attempted to pawn your Olympic medal to help relieve some of the financial burden for your family, but the clerk refused to let you do that, thinking you’d eventually regret it. What was going through your mind during that time?

Hollywood theatrics [laughs]. It never happened. Barry Jenkins and I talked about that scene. I was like, “Barry, I would never!” And he was like, “I know, but it’s good there.” I worked my butt off for that medal, and I didn’t get what I deserved [referring to endorsements and pay]. I was very upset, so at the time, I did think about throwing my gold medal in the river. That was my Muhammad Ali moment…I was going to throw it in the river because I was tired of looking at it. It reminded me of how hard I worked, but my circumstances still remained the same. Everybody in the world knew my name, but I was still living in poverty. So, I locked it away in a drawer for a long time without ever looking at it because I wanted to move forward from it. Then, after a while, I said, “You know what, I don’t even want it near me. I want to throw it in the river.” Everybody told me not to do it. So, Barry reimagined that moment in my life with the pawn shop scene in the film.

Wow, well, it definitely set the tone! Lastly, is there an Easter egg or detail that audiences should look out for? Ryan told me about the prayer stance you would do, as well as, the photo of your grandmother that you’d take everywhere.

Whenever you see Betty Boop, that’s a reminder of my grandmother. When I wear Betty Boop socks, when I had the Betty Boop cover I was stuffing it in my suitcase, that comes from my grandma. She loved Betty Boop! You know the original Betty Boop was Black, right? I have Black Betty Boop dolls and even Black Betty Boop candies. I used to fight in Betty Boop socks because it made me feel my grandma’s presence, as if she was there watching me during these fights.