Damar was raised in McKee's Rocks, Penn., and played football at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh.

Damar was born to Nina and Mario Hamlin in 1998, and his parents were still very young when they had him.

“I’m extremely close to my family. My mom, she was 16 when she had me, and I just try to think about when I was 16 years old and I just couldn’t imagine having a little boy,” Damar told News 4 during an interview in 2021. “It was probably so stressful but both of my parents had me young, at 16, and pretty much since that point they put everything they had into me to get me to where we are right now today.”

Nina can often be seen on the sidelines or in other areas cheering Hamlin on during games and seems to be an important support for Hamlin. “It was us at first, just me and my mom and my dad, and they taught me hard work. They taught me you gotta work for everything and basically they just taught me all of the lessons of life,” he explained during the interview.

Damar has also expressed appreciation for both of his parents on Instagram, wishing his dad a happy Father's Day in June of 2022.

"We weathered every storm from hell and back together as a family. Not ashamed of our story cause it made us who we are. Happy Father’s Day pops. You taught me a lot in life but something that will always stick with me is making sacrifices for the people you love. Whatever it takes for the family," the post reads.

Mario was in jail for three and a half years while Damar was still young for selling drugs, but he returned to his family at the end of his sentence. He and Nina then opened an office cleaning business together, and Nina also ran a daycare to make ends meet.