Sports
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ESPN News Services
Dec 19, 2024, 02:30 PM ET
United States forward Trinity Rodman says her relationship with her father, Dennis Rodman, remains strained and that he is still largely absent from her life.
“He’s not a dad. Maybe by blood, but nothing else,” Trinity Rodman told host Alex Cooper on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast on Wednesday.
The podcast comments echo what Trinity Rodman told ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson in June 2022.
Rodman said that growing up, her mother tried to shield her two children from the chaotic lifestyle of the former NBA star. Rodman’s mother, Michelle Moyer, divorced Dennis Rodman in 2012.
Trinity Rodman, who won a gold medal with the United States this summer at the Paris Olympics, has a brother, DJ Rodman, who plays in the NBA’s G League.
Dennis Rodman responded to his daughter on Instagram, saying he is sorry he “wasn’t the dad you wanted me to be” and said he tried to be a father and will keep trying.
“I will try even when it’s difficult and if it takes a long time. I’m always here And tell you all the time rather it’s your voice or voicemail how proud I am. I always had one wish and it was I wish my kids would call me and come see me. Hopefully one day I can get that,” he wrote in the post.
Trinity Rodman, who also plays for the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League, recalled how her father showed up unannounced at a Spirit playoff game in 2021.
She hadn’t spoken to her father in months and was emotional during the game, then was photographed crying in his arms afterward.
“The whistle blew and I was so mad, like, ‘You took this happy moment from me. You f—ed with my head again,'” she said on the podcast.
“I think after that was when I lost hope of ever getting him back. It was just like, he’s popping in whenever he’s going to be on a camera,” Trinity Rodman said. “Even at that game, I don’t think it was for me, I think he wanted to have a good conscience and then be like, ‘Headline, Dennis Rodman showed up to his daughter’s game.'”
Trinity Rodman went on to win a title with the Spirit that year and was named NWSL Rookie of the Year. She said that after that game she didn’t speak to her father again until after the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Trinity Rodman and the Spirit lost to the Orlando Pride in the 2024 NWSL Championship game.
Dennis Rodman won five NBA championships over a 14-year career. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
Information from ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson and The Associated Press was used in this story.
