- Zion auditioned for America’s Got Talent.
- Zion was born with a rare birth defect.
- Zion is a professional mixed martial artist.
The America’s Got Talent auditions have come to a close, but we’re in the thick of the qualifiers. Zion Clark will be performing for America’s vote during the Sept. 12 episode of AGT. Zion’s audition inspired millions around the world, and his first performance has over 1 million views on YouTube.
So, who is Zion Clark? The 25-year-old from Ohio has persevered no matter what and stopped at nothing to achieve his goals. HollywoodLife has rounded up everything you need to know about Zion.
Zion was born without legs.
Zion was born with a rare birth defect called Caudal Regression Syndrome. He was born without legs. Zion stands at just over 3 feet tall.
After his powerful audition, the judges showered him with praise. “You are absolutely incredible,” Heidi Klum raved. Simon Cowell added, “You define the word inspiration.”
Zion recently made his professional mixed martial arts debut.
Zion began wrestling in high school and went on to compete in wrestling and wheelchair racing events at Kent State University. He made his professional mixed martial arts debut in December 2022 and won at the Gladiator Challenge: Seasons Beatings event. Zion hopes to be the first person to make both the Olympic and Paralympic teams, he told Men’s Health.
Zion was adopted.
Zion wrote on his official website that he was “given up for adoption at birth with no father in the picture and a mother who was unfit to take care of him.” On AGT, Zion revealed that his dad is in jail, and his mom is a drug addict. He spent several years in the Ohio foster care system. He was eventually adopted by his foster mother Kimberly Hawkins when he was a senior in high school.
Zion attempted suicide when he was a kid.
“I tried to commit suicide, over and over and over again as a kid,” Zion said in an episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, according to MMA Fighting. “I was 10 years old [when I first tried to commit suicide]. There was no other option.” He added, “I wasn’t eating food. I wasn’t getting to take showers. I was just stuck, and on top of that, if I voiced my own opinion, I got the s*** beat out of me. So I was just tired. I would rather sleep forever than deal with the crap I was going through.”
Zion wrote a memoir.
Zion released Work with What You Got: A Memoir in April 2023. He was also the subject of the short documentary film Zion, which was released on Netflix in 2018.