Celebrities Who Were Teachers Before They Were Famous

Liam Neeson, who taught at St Mary’s College in Fenham, England, told ESPN he once hit a student who had a knife pointed at him.

Liam Neeson.

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In a 2012 interview with ESPN, Neeson said he was fired for hitting a student who threatened him with a knife.

“There were always discipline issues getting them to calm down before you can start teaching them,” Neeson said. “This particular boy didn’t want to settle down, he wanted to disturb the whole class. So I went to him and asked him to leave the classroom and stand outside. Next he pulled at me with a knife. My reaction was to hit him, which I shouldn’t have done, but I felt threatened.”