Bruce Bowen - Personal Life

Personal Life

Bowen is the son of Bruce Bowen Sr. and Dietra Campbell. He told a reporter of having a problematic childhood, plagued by his mother's drug addiction and his father's alcohol problems. Today, Bowen is estranged from his parents and several relatives, instead looking up to his childhood friend Quinn Crozier and to Robert and Sandra Thrash, a Los Angeles couple whom he regards as his adoptive parents. Bowen is married to Yardley Barbon, a Miami native of Cuban descent, and the couple have two sons, Ojani (born September 7, 2005) and Ozmel (born June 9, 2007). He often speaks out against child obesity and runs his own "Get fit with Bruce and Buddy" program for children's healthy nutrition and daily sports activities. He is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the University of Texas at Austin Longhorns football team. He runs the Bruce Bowen Foundation, an organization set up to provide scholarships and bursaries. In 2006, he received a college degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton; he had also taken classes at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He has stated that he wants to become a teacher.