Perhaps the most defining trait of a narcissist is their lack of empathy. They cannot or will not recognize the needs, pain, or humanity of others. To a narcissist, people aren’t individuals with feelings — they’re extensions of themselves, expected to serve their needs without question. When others hurt, the narcissist feels inconvenienced, not compassionate.

For Mark Anthony Stephens, this absence of empathy is glaring.

What Lack of Empathy Looks Like in Mark

• Liam’s Medical Crisis
  While Liam was hospitalized and literally classified as failure to thrive, Mark referred to him as “obese.” He pressured him to sign a “contract” denying his diagnosis, undermining treatment, and dismissing his suffering. To minimize a child’s life-threatening condition for the sake of ego is not just cruel — it is the absence of empathy in its purest form.
• Chaos at Games
  At Nathan’s basketball tournament, Mark laughed while his guest screamed profanities and insults at players, coaches, and parents. Even as the game was disrupted, his own son sat with worry on his face. Mark didn’t comfort him. He didn’t intervene. He filmed it. Entertainment for himself mattered more than the emotional safety of his child.
• Neglect of Support
  Nearly three years behind on child support, Mark has chosen leisure and image over providing basic needs for his sons. Travel for pickleball, road trips for dogs — those come first. His boys’ food, housing, and medical care? Left for others to shoulder. That isn’t oversight; it’s indifference.
• Weaponizing Faith
  By twisting scripture and using God’s name to excuse his behavior, Mark burdens his children with a false image of faith. Instead of offering compassion, forgiveness, or humility, he models hypocrisy and abuse — ensuring that his boys may one day turn not just from him, but from God altogether.

The Reality Behind the Mask

Empathy is the core of parenting. It’s the ability to put your children’s needs above your own, to sit with them in pain, to sacrifice for their wellbeing. Mark has consistently chosen the opposite. His lack of empathy hasn’t just caused temporary harm — it has carved deep wounds into the trust and faith of his children.

This isn’t simply a character flaw. It’s the pattern of a narcissist whose heart is closed to the needs of others, especially the ones who should matter most.

This is the seventh mask removed: Lack of Empathy.
Next, we’ll look at the narcissist’s envy and resentment — and how Mark’s constant comparisons and bitterness toward others reveal his insecurity.