HOUSTON -- There aren't many times you'll find Dwight Howard without a smile on his face.
"I'm just me," Howard says. "I don't go out, and I don't try and draw attention to myself."
Whether fair or not, that personality has gotten him into trouble before.
"Love by many, and then in the same year, hated by everybody," Howard said.
Wavering support which he's brushed aside many times. For Howard, the only constant is family, but two weeks ago, he learned that his older brother had passed away -- news which changed the way he saw the upcoming holiday.
"My dad said something very interesting that sometimes families only get together when bad things happen, and I just sat at home one day, and I was like, 'Man, you know what? I would love for my whole family to come here for Thanksgiving.' So we've got, like, 40 to 50 people coming for Thanksgiving, and it's going to be a packed house."
Family planning aside, Howard's days are usually filled with charity. This past Sunday he and his D12 Foundation delivered catered meals to several locations in Houston – a city which has embraced him. It's these interactions that are rarely seen by his toughest critics.
"I love that feeling of just being able to go places and have fun with people, and they see, 'Oh, wow. This is different from what I expected.'"
"What are people's biggest misconceptions of you?" KHOU's Daniel Gotera asks Howard.
"The one that I really hate is the whole prima donna-type thing where people say, 'He's cocky. He's a prima donna. He wants this, he wants that.' And I'm like, 'Man, I'm simple.'"
Which -- coincidentally -- is the same description you can use for his preferred Thanksgiving menu.
"The only thing I'll have that will probably be bad is chitlins…I love them. I don't have to have no turkey, ham, stuffing, none of that stuff. I would prefer to sit with my family and eat chitlins."
That's definitely reason enough to smile.
