Which real people changed for the better?
February 26, 2025 9:17 AM Subscribe
Looking for real-life stories of redemption. I found a great list from this site in 2012, and I'm hoping to get some more ideas. A name or a wikipedia link is fine, but I would love it if you have a link to a narrative about why and how they changed. Thanks all!
Robert Downey Jr. comes to mind.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:45 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:45 AM on February 26 [4 favorites]
Drew Barrymore.
posted by Melismata at 9:51 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
posted by Melismata at 9:51 AM on February 26 [1 favorite]
Drew Barrymore seems very unfair, seeing as she was literally a child when she was "worse."
posted by phunniemee at 10:10 AM on February 26 [10 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 10:10 AM on February 26 [10 favorites]
Response by poster: Yes, I prefer people who made choices to behave badly rather than people who had rough childhoods or suffered from addictions. Keep 'em coming!
posted by chaiminda at 10:13 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by chaiminda at 10:13 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Claiborne Paul Ellis (January 8, 1927 – November 3, 2005) was an American segregationist turned civil rights activist and trade union organizer. Ellis was at one time Exalted Cyclops, local leader, of a Ku Klux Klan group in Durham, North Carolina, the city where he was born.
posted by amtho at 10:21 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
posted by amtho at 10:21 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]
Christian Picciolini, co-founder of Life After Hate.
posted by carrienation at 11:03 AM on February 26
posted by carrienation at 11:03 AM on February 26
John Newton worked on (and captained) slave ships before becoming an abolitionist. Somewhere in there he wrote Amazing Grace too.
posted by adekllny at 11:23 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by adekllny at 11:23 AM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Shannon Foley Martinez, who has a story similar to Picciolini's and worked alongside him for a while.
George Wallace is an interesting case. A number of people who were affected by his racism attested to the sincerity of his apologies, and in his final term as governor of Alabama he made real progress on increasing the number of Black people in government, but I don't think that balances out the harm he did. I also don't know that there's ever been a clear explanation of what changed his views other than "I'm born-again."
posted by Bryant at 11:27 AM on February 26
George Wallace is an interesting case. A number of people who were affected by his racism attested to the sincerity of his apologies, and in his final term as governor of Alabama he made real progress on increasing the number of Black people in government, but I don't think that balances out the harm he did. I also don't know that there's ever been a clear explanation of what changed his views other than "I'm born-again."
posted by Bryant at 11:27 AM on February 26
Best answer: Came in to say CP Ellis. Osha Gray Davidson’s book about him is on Internet Archive.
posted by yarrow at 12:53 PM on February 26
posted by yarrow at 12:53 PM on February 26
Best answer: Shawn Michaels, considered by many to be the greatest professional wrestler of all time, went from being a coked-out asshole almost universally disliked even by colleagues who acknowledged his gifts to a sober, all-around nice guy after he found Jesus.
You can discount Jesus’s contribution if you prefer, but the turnaround and the timeline are not in question. His testimony is available on YouTube if you’re interested.
posted by Lemkin at 1:20 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
You can discount Jesus’s contribution if you prefer, but the turnaround and the timeline are not in question. His testimony is available on YouTube if you’re interested.
posted by Lemkin at 1:20 PM on February 26 [1 favorite]
Best answer: A couple of the January 6 rioters rejected Trump's pardons.
posted by Threeve at 5:42 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
posted by Threeve at 5:42 PM on February 26 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Canadian pundit Michael Coren shifted from reactionary to moderate.
posted by ovvl at 8:38 PM on February 26
posted by ovvl at 8:38 PM on February 26
Robert Byrd
I would argue Arnold Schwarzenegger
The woman whose name I am blanking on right now, but who left the Westboro Baptist Church and started speaking out against it.
posted by virve at 11:04 PM on February 27
I would argue Arnold Schwarzenegger
The woman whose name I am blanking on right now, but who left the Westboro Baptist Church and started speaking out against it.
posted by virve at 11:04 PM on February 27
The writer Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon etc.) who worked as an operative for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, notorious then and now for strike breaking, but quit and became an activist. He was sent to prison and blacklisted for refusing to give investigators the names of other activists.
posted by JonJacky at 7:46 AM on February 28
posted by JonJacky at 7:46 AM on February 28
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posted by jenfullmoon at 9:42 AM on February 26 [2 favorites]