Alex
Appearances
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I think that's what's probably so confusing, even hearing you talk about this. Like, I think a lot of people would assume because you're Dennis Rodman's daughter, money wasn't an issue for you growing up. But that obviously wasn't the case. Do you know why after the divorce, like, he would not pay child support?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I know you said like you were sleeping in a bed with your mom. Like what was one of the worst circumstances living wise that you and your siblings had to go through during your childhood?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
How long do you think you lived, you lived in a car for?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And I also think that's such a testament to your mom, right? Because I think as you get older and you start to recognize, like, the reality of life, The fact that you guys were able to see those moments as just genuinely so joyful, like your mom was protecting you in such a beautiful way and you had these like awesome memories. That's such a testament to your mother.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
But it's just weird. Do you think you were like you never found yourself ever resentful of your situation? No. That's amazing.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
When I was doing research, I was looking like when you were nine years old, your dad was getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. And when I'm listening to you talk right now, I'm like, OK, you're nine. So many things happened. It's crazy. Right. Like I'm like, hold on. This man is on a stage getting inducted into the Hall of Fame. And where are you when you're nine? No.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
So at that point in your life, just to try to get an understanding throughout, like I would say your first like 15 years of life, let's say, how often would you see your dad?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Yeah, because it's just like... Do I believe him?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Casual, just gold medal sitting somewhere random. What is your pregame ritual? Do you have any superstitions?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
know yeah like what a horrible situation where you're like wait no dad like we yes we're coming to you for money because we're literally living in a fucking car but we also want you but he's so paranoid of whatever's going on in his life that he can't like accept what you guys are trying to give him and so it's like this cat and mouse game where you guys feel like you're constantly being rejected but you're coming with the best intentions
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Yeah, but I feel like hearing you say this, like I've had people sit in that exact chair and it's like fucked up dynamics with parents is so complicated because at the end of the day, they're still your parent. And there's like almost a brainwash you experience of like you still want their love. You still want their validation. You still want them to like you.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
You still want him to like come to your games and think you're great and like see how great you're doing. But at the same time, you also want to be like, fuck you. You've never done anything for us. And it's like this battle of I get why I wouldn't expect anything other than you sitting here and going back and forth of like trying to protect him because you've never spoken about this.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
So I want to give you grace also like you're doing great because you are doing a really great job of explaining this like hard push and pull you have because it's your dad.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
That's what I was going to say. I went and looked at that Instagram post and my heart sunk for you because obviously I knew somewhat of the conversation we were going to have today, but I had obviously no idea of the gravity of it. And it's so...
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
disheartening because you're right like you walking over to him in that moment it was all about the cameras you couldn't have a normal reaction to be like where the fuck have you been and like you saying you're on the field angry and then you don't get to have a normal moment with your father where a normal person could go up and be like what the fuck instead it's like everyone smile for the cameras and be happy and then before you even get to have like a debrief the next day like he's gone
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Can you talk to me about like, didn't he like always change his phone numbers?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Why is he always changing his phone number?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Of him calling you in moments throughout your life and those moments where you're like, sometimes I have the patience, sometimes I don't. Is there any time he called you that you remember and it really fucked with you?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, the locker room before games is feral. And there are some people that are so chill and quiet. And then there are the people that are rowdy. Are you rowdy? Do you want to answer that?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Whether you were about to go into a specific event in your life or you were in a specific situation and he calls and you were like, this completely fucked me up and ruined my day, kind of like the game.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Well, that's what but you saying that. And I feel like there's a lot of people listening that can probably relate to having someone in their life that struggles with alcohol or substance abuse. And it's like the point you just hit on, which I think is so debilitating.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And it keeps you kind of like a captive because it's like you're held captive to your dad because the thought is, is this his last moment? And he's calling me and he wants to hear my voice. So there's a world where you're going to pick up every fucking time because you're so fucking scared for somebody else.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Have you have you figured out any form of boundaries that you has worked or no?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
with your father of like a heart to heart somewhat scratching the surface of like this is why he is the way he is like has he ever spoken about his struggle with alcohol to you and tried to explain his behavior no but i think not with the alcohol with loving people he's talked to me and my mom about of just the lack of love that he's received from his parents or his dad relationships
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And I think like we would all, I agree with you when you're talking about the LeBron and Bronny situation, but like, I think we would all be idiots if we didn't think to ourselves, like, damn, that's fucking hard for that kid. Like that looks great, but even that is so fucking hard. So imagine your brother. And I'm not, yeah, I did not mean to make that sound like a walk in the park.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, I'm validating what you're saying of like, it looks like, wow, look how great that is. But it's like, even that.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
one can imagine how difficult that is of like being the son of lebron james you're like no damn this is hard and like but the fact that lebron is embracing his kid being like come with me let you show you around it's like your brother and i agree like not to speak for him but i can only imagine the hurt it feels to have a passion that is essentially like constantly stripped of you because you're being constantly compared to your dad when what your guys are really talking about you're like i don't want to be fucking compared to him
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Were you hesitant to talk about the real situation with your dad because of the hype around the Rodman name? Like, do you think people are going to still like not not believe what you're saying today, but do you think people will still downplay it? Because it's like because I also think people look at us like, oh, poor, poor me.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
You don't want me to just talk about kicking a ball around the field?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, I was the same way. Like I would be the person just like talking and I wouldn't shut the fuck up. And everyone would be like, Cooper, go sit in your fucking locker room. And I'm like, I don't want to sit in my locker. And what? Like, think about what's about to happen? I'd rather not. Manifest?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Yeah. It almost feels like people are like frustrated that you speaking about what he was like as a dad is going to threaten his legacy as a basketball player, which is so fucked. Yeah. How do you think talking about this today is going to affect you and like impact the way you approach interviews moving forward?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I can imagine moments like this where you are having this like Olympic run and your name is everywhere. And yes, you're sitting there and people are asking you like, oh, is your dad going to come? And is your dad going to see the game? And it's like, why can't I just be enough? How has your relationship with your dad affected your love life?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, never. So I pretend I'm, like, about to, like, go out for a fun night. Like, I'm not thinking straight. Because then the people that are meditating, you're like, my God, you have, like, a really strong brain. And I don't want to be a part of that energy.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
OK, wait, did you have any relationships where you started to be like, fuck, I need to figure my shit out in the past? Because like we've all had fucked up relationships romantically. Like, did you see any of your family trauma seeping into your relationships that you can share with people maybe that have similar situation to you?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Obviously, yeah. especially during the Olympics, like the entire world was talking about you. Everyone knows your name. And I think aside from your talent, I think a lot of people in media press on social media, a lot of people wanted to hear you talk about and wanted to ask you, um, about your dad. For those of the daddy gang that don't know in my audience, your father... What's a dad?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Well, I was going to say too, I feel like a big theme throughout our conversation of like talking about your... growing up and talking about your relationship with your father like there has been a lot of instability in the way that he communicates with you and his actions like you even saying like the drinking problem like I remember I wrote down like at one point your dad
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
made really had a lot of controversial moments obviously but like the one where he befriended a dictator in North Korea and like you know it's really not funny but like we can laugh but like you having to read that about your dad that is a lot of like one day you don't hear from him one day you're reading something on the news like yeah it that's very like destabilizing to like your reality of like your everyday this person pops in or you hear this on the news that your dad is making friends with a dictator in North Korea like
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Yeah. But again, I think it's like I think if I'm taking anything from this, it's also like it's still a work in progress of like he is your biological father. A part of you is there is parts of him. Right. And so like you love this person in ways that you can't describe. And as much as he hurts you, there's those push and pull moments where you're like, fuck, dad, why do you have to be like this?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And then I also think it's really inspiring to hear you talk about like how you're like, no, I am carving my own path. And now can we just talk about like you as your own career? Like you are so fucking successful. You fucking crush it. You have a fucking gold medal on your nightstand that you're like, I forgot where it is. Where is it again? Where is it?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Winning and succeeding and being so successful and having sponsors and being a woman in sports in general is so fucking hard to do. How do you fucking enjoy it for yourself and don't let this bullshit get to you some days? Who do you celebrate with? Who do you talk to about your success, individual of your dad?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Daddy gang, let me know. What's a dad? Cut that, cut that. What's a dad? Yeah, let's just kick it right off. You're like... What is a father? Let me know. Your dad is Dennis Rodman. He's one of the most famous basketball players of all time. He played alongside Michael Jordan. He had a very controversial career.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, but I think that's really fucking relatable. I think that's not just you. I think that if you ask a lot of people when they have such intense success, I think it's so hard to try to grasp what's happening in the moment because that would mean you have to stop. And I think you need time to process as a human being. And I feel like it sucks in one way.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
But you also, especially as athletes, it's like you got to keep fucking going because even when you win, like you said, what did you say to me at the beginning of this? You said, oh, I didn't even have time to celebrate the gold because what did you go do?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I think women are obviously so scrutinized in general, but sports specifically, I think has been like a huge topic recently in a great way. But what do you think is the hardest part about being a female athlete?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
He was known for crazy partying, hooking up with women, getting in trouble on and off the court. And you have never really talked about what was going on in your family behind the scenes. And today we're going to get into it. What made you feel ready?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
We're just here to feel something. We're dead sober. We've had like half of a cocktail. I'm like drinking Red Bull the whole time. Okay. No, but I get what you're saying. It's like the double standard of like why can't. And it again, though, like it hasn't changed, though, I guess is what we're also saying. It's like your dad was known for.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I watched the Michael Jordan doc on like the whatever the fuck the last something. Sorry. Oh, my God. All the last dance. Yeah. The last dance.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I do know that fact. The last dance and he's on a flight to Vegas and he comes back and he shows up in the middle and he's ready for the game. And it's like if women behaved the same way that men did, it just you wouldn't be in the position you're in because we are expected to act differently. and to speak differently in media and to present ourselves differently. And it's exhausting.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And especially when you're getting to see men act a certain way and get bigger paychecks. Like, it fucking sucks. It sucks. Yeah, it does, definitely.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
No, but can I say, I do really respect you for sitting down with me today for a numerous amount of reasons. But when talking about... the women in sports I feel like something that as someone that used to play but doesn't play anymore and is now in media like I think something that can contribute to the sports growing is this is the athletes
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
becoming more well known for who they are individual of the sport because sports are fucking amazing we love sports but who is trinity rodman outside of being on the field and like i think that's what gets people so fucking excited and incentivized on top of being a great big sports lover like
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
There may be some people I remember doing my show and people were like, oh, fuck, I like watched soccer games and I've never watched a soccer game in my life. But I just like tuned in because like I listen to Call Her Daddy and like now I kind of love it.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And it's like whatever we can do to get people to tune in, I think is so important because like women do deserve the recognition that they don't get. So I appreciate you fucking speaking up, even if it's about something that you didn't want to talk about.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
That, that. Trinity. Life's too short. Thank you so much for coming on Call Her Daddy. You crushed. Yeah. Thanks for listening to me. Thank you.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
that, yes, whether you love or you don't or whatever your dynamic is, it's your dad. And everyone has a very specific idea of your father, but none of us are his children, right?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
We have an idea of what we saw on a Netflix special and what we watched back in the day if you're watching his games, but you have a lived, breathed experience of this man as your father that people are looking, I think, in a glamorized way for you to talk like, what's it like? Dennis Rodman's your dad. This is so cool. And you're literally like, Next question.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
So I think it's fair for you to talk about your life in a realistic way because you are also a public figure and you are famous in your own right now. And so you're allowed to speak about your experience. Let's go back to the beginning. We're going to go back to the beginning. Where did you grow up and what was your hometown like?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
I love how I say that. And you're like, okay, I actually have a story. No, stop. You're like, I have a story. Can this take up an hour? You're going to be fine today. Okay. I've got you. First of all, I do just have to say, I'm so fucking happy that I'm meeting you because I had a show on Peacock during the Olympics and I was, you're not, you saw? Okay. I saw you going crazy.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Trinity Rodman, welcome to Call Her Daddy. Hey, thanks for having me. Oh my gosh, so happy to be here. No, Trinity, you just walked in here and you go, what did you just say? You're like, I only talk about soccer.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
people that aren't obviously from california but i feel like you hear about it or even you like watch the show the oc and orange county and newport like there's such extreme wealth how do you think you growing up and not having money impacted you like as a kid in your personality like were you shy were you reserved were you loud like how what what kind of kid were you um
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Bitch, I cried when you won. OK, so I was I got there and they were like, oh, we're going to have you cover all the sports. And I was like, please let me just cover soccer with a little bit of gymnastics because I know soccer. And they were like, maybe, maybe. And then they saw me talk about soccer and they're like, OK, Jesus Christ, you have to stay. You have to stay.
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
But do you think you weren't making friends because you were just trying to like hide? Like it's not or were people literally not liking you because they knew of your socioeconomic status?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Do you remember, like, how did you see that affect your mom of, like, this divorce dragging on for so many years?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
And when you guys won gold, I cried. Same. Okay. Oh, fuck. Obviously. Um, can you, we're going to start with some easy ones. Okay. How did you celebrate winning gold?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
When you say that your mom would, you kind of knew that like that ship had sailed, like your mom had been dealing with so much. Like how did your mom talk about your dad and his absence to you and your siblings?
Call Her Daddy
Trinity Rodman: The Truth about My Family
Do you have any recollection of like watching them fight in front of each other, like in front of you? Yeah.
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Stop Doubting Yourself: 5 Tips to Boost Your Confidence
Hey Mel, it's Alex here. Can you talk about how to thrive around high achievers when you're not naturally an extrovert or someone with great confidence? I'm trying to succeed at university and this is something I find super challenging.