Former NBA star Dennis Rodman is one of America's most famous sports legends, but according to his daughter, he's a better athlete than a father.
Rodman's daughter, soccer star Trinity Rodman, recently spoke out about her famous dad on the Call Her Daddy podcast, and it wasn't particularly flattering.
Trinity Rodman has long been less that complimentary of her famous father. Something of a soccer prodigy, Trinity has always credited her mother Michelle Moyer, and her mother only, for leading her to success.
Moyer and Dennis Rodman divorced in 2012 when Trinity was about 10, and she told Call Her Daddy's Alex Cooper that the aftermath was somewhat brutal, especially since he was stingy with his NBA fortune.
Trinity Rodman said he rarely gave her and her mother any money, and when he did, he held it over their heads in multiple ways.
"My dad, he likes to be in control. So he would take us shopping, get us phones, do this, do that."
"'Oh, I'm going to take you and your brother shopping,' and me and my brother are like, 'We don't want to go shopping, we just want money to go get In-N-Out after school with our friends.'"
"So it was like, he wouldn't give us money to do that. He needed to have the control of bringing us shopping and swiping his own card."
"But if we asked, 'Hey, could we have $100 to go get food, to go to Claire's to get my ears pierced,' just little stuff like that? He was like, 'No. You're using me.'"
The situation was at times so dire she and her mother and brother lived in their car for a while. She also recalled being styled for her father's events, like his jersey retirement, and feeling awkward because her father was anything but a family man.
She went on:
"He loves the spotlight. He loves the cameras. He loves bringing his children on stage and being like, 'Oh, these are my kids.'"
Later in her life, Rodman showed up to one of her games out of nowhere in her first season with the Washington Spirit women's soccer team. Trinity recalled starting to cry on the field because she hadn't heard from him in months.
Though she scored the winning goal, she was furious with her father for throwing her off. But then they had a tearfully tender moment after the game, which she characterized as a "new beginning" between them. Then she didn't hear from him again for two years.
Now, she has a pretty sobering take on their relationship.
"He’s not a dad. Maybe by blood, but nothing else."
On Instagram, many people with difficult parental relationships related to her story.
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As for Trinity and her dad's relationship now, she's taken a pragmatic approach going forward.
She told Cooper:
"I answer the phone now for my conscience, to be like, he needed to hear my voice before anything else happens. That's why I answer the phone, not for me."
Sometimes that's all you can do.
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