Panthers QB Cam Newton On Handling Criticism, Being A Leader & Fashion

“In this day and age, everybody wants to be that star. Of course, people are going to say, ‘He’s immature. He doesn’t deserve this.’ But when people see you do alright, then you start winning their hearts.”– Cam Newton

Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton has been impressive in his rookie season. At just 22 years-old, Newton has embraced a leadership role on the Panthers. He recently spoke with Interview magazine about how he’s handling criticism, being a leader and FASHION.

On Being a Leader, being in the spotlight and dealing with Criticism:

(being a leader) That’s just something that comes natural in a person. The hard part is that you’re always in the spotlight. Oftentimes I see myself on TV, and it’s like, “Man, what have I become?” I used to hope I was gonna be on TV, hoping people would see me playing football. Now, I’m being critiqued at the highest level—you know, “Cam didn’t do that right. He didn’t do this right.” Which is fine, but there’s no off switch. If I go downstairs right now and cuss out somebody, it’s going to be on ESPN tomorrow, you can believe that. That’s the difference

In this field, people know how much you’re worth—meaning X amount of dollars, or that you’re on TV this much. You have to respect that you are not regular anymore. And when I say “regular,” I don’t mean that I’m better than you are, I mean that everybody’s watching. In this day and age, everybody wants to be that star. Of course, people are going to say, “He’s immature. He doesn’t deserve this.” But when people see you do alright, then you start winning their hearts. It’s not going to come easy, though. It doesn’t matter how many people you do right, you’re still going to be hated by so many others. You can’t live your life trying to make everybody happy.

I’d be lying to you if I said I don’t look at the TV or listen to what people say. I’d be a fool if I didn’t. I don’t break my neck going on Yahoo Sports or Twitter, but, you know, you’re on TV, you’re in the newspapers. So many people are talking about you, and you don’t understand what effect you’re having on them. You have a lot of fans who you don’t know, who you’ll never know, and you’ve got a lot of people wishing for your failure. You have to be mindful of the decisions you make, from the people that you go out with to the pictures that you take with fans. It’s a platform that could easily be taken away.

On his Fashion Inspirations:

The most successful people I admire don’t carry their jobs with them off the field. I don’t want to dress like a football player. I don’t want a person to look at me and say, “Oh, that’s tacky. You dress like a football player—you don’t care.” I want to dress, you know, relatively nice and clean, you know? Not baggy, not loose. I want everything to be flush and neat.

To see more photos and read the rest of the piece, go HERE