Trinity Rodman is done being "generous" when it comes to her father, Dennis Rodman. People have always wondered what the Olympic gold medalist's relationship is like with the NBA legend, and in her latest interview, she revealed the heartbreak and emotional rollercoaster she says he put her through.
Trinity stopped by the Call Her Daddy podcast in an episode released Wednesday, where she didn’t hold back about her dad. Dennis welcomed Trinity and her brother DJ with their mom, Michelle Moyer. "I feel like me, and my brother have been very generous with the way that we've talked about it and very unselfish," she said in the interview.
According to Trinity, Dennis is "not a dad" and was not there for them emotionally or financially. She also revealed he is struggling with alcoholism and has declined over the last 5 years.
Dennis is known for his partying past, which Trinity, who was born in 2002, alleged she was immersed in for the brief period they lived with him when they were little. "We tried to live with him, but he's having parties 24/7, he's bringing random b***hes in," she told host Alex Cooper. "My mom didn’t want — she was strong enough to deal with it because even to this day, I still believe that my dad hasn’t loved anyone after my mom.”
Her mom eventually filed for divorce in 2004, one year after their marriage, although it wasn’t dissolved until 2012. Hurt, the soccer player said her dad was not there for the family, even in the one way he could have been. "Before the divorce happened, my dad was actually helping money-wise," she told host Alex Cooper. "When the divorce happened, it was like f**k you guys."
Trinity said her dad would make comments about the family using him for money and wouldn’t pay child support. While her mom struggled, they experienced homelessness, living in an expedition and for months in a motel room. During this time, Trinity and her brother went to school in the wealthy neighborhood of Newport Beach.
"Imagine living in a car and like going to a rich school, it’s the most weird thing. But we were living in a car, but we could afford to stay in a motel for a little bit, so we were back and forth depending on what nights we could pay for," she shared.
While she would see her dad much more as a child, by the time she was in 7th grade, she said she saw him 3-4 times a year when they lived in the same city.
As for that viral moment when Dennis showed up at the Spirit's playoffs quarterfinal match against the North Carolina Courage, Trinity said the first emotion she felt was anger. "The whistle blew, and I was so mad. I thought, 'You took this happy moment from me. You f***ed with my head again.' And he did it so many times. I don’t even know if he realizes what he does, but when the game ended, I was so angry. I was happy we won, but I was still just so mad," she said.
"I walked over to him, and all I could do was cry. I was so mad. I walked over, thinking, 'F*** you,' but then he grabbed my head, and I just started bawling into his arms, like a father-daughter moment. It was the first game he’d come to, a quarterfinal. He missed the entire season. I hadn’t seen him at my games in three, four, five years. And there I was, crying," Trinity continued.
After trying to take the positive from it, she had hope that things would be different. When they parted ways, she said he told her, “'I want to see you soon. I’m in DC.'” "I said, 'Okay,'" she recalled. "And then after that, radio silence. I didn’t see him again until this year. I hadn’t talked to him or seen him since then, which I think was around 2021."
Where they are now
According to Trinity, Dennis has been trying to call her for the last couple of weeks from a Texas phone number, she didn't realize it was him until she started seeing he was leaving voicemails. While she's wanted a relationship with him, she says the calls are "horrible" due to his alcoholism.
"I think it f**ks me up every single time," she said of their phone calls. "I think now hearing his voice is like painful because I think it’s missing him mixed with he’s an alcoholic," she said, "again that’s something that I don’t wanna say, but I’m just like it’s just the truth."
Trinity said the last five years she's heard him decline, "hearing the difference in the way that his sentences go together, and now I’m like like I genuinely keep thinking he’s gone."
"I answer the phone now for my conscience like if something does happen - God forbid - I wanna know that I did that or if he needed to hear my voice before anything happens like that’s why I answer the phone - not for me. But then I answer the phone, and I have that conversation, and I hear the way he’s talking and how gone and drunk he is, and I’m just like, that was horrible. That did nothing for me. If something were to happen, if I wouldn't have had that phone call, I would’ve felt the same way," she continued.
Dennis is also the father to daughter Alexis Rodman, 36, whom he shares with his first wife, Annie Bakes.