Dennis Rodman is an all-time great rebounder and all-time great persona. It’s true, we haven’t seen anyone as bizarre and ridiculous as him. Which is also why we love covering stories about him. The man was interesting, to say the least.
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We all know that he was the prototypical bad boy of the NBA. And everything we see in the NBA today, such as tattoos and piercings were all a courtesy of Rodman’s avant-garde approach to life. An iconoclast indeed.
Not to mention, he is also a pioneer of fashion. And even today, his dressing sense is seen as outrageous. So imagine the outcry it would have attracted in the 1990s!
One of his most iconic fits, was when he donned a wedding dress and paraded it to a book signing. Talk about a promotion.
The story behind the wedding dress
Of course, if you are Dennis Rodman and you have a book coming out, you will think of the most far-fetched way to promote it.
Dennis Rodman announcing that he is bisexual and that he is marrying himself, 1996. The stunt was done for the promotion of his memoir “Bad as I Wanna Be”. He arrived in a wedding dress and wearing a wig. Thanks to this his book garnered even more publicity. pic.twitter.com/3cnKClGwLW
— Lost in History (@LIHpics) October 20, 2022
Rodman’s memoir, “Bad as I wanna be“, quite aptly titled, needed some promotion. Rodman announced that he was marrying himself at a 5th avenue book store and went up to the Rockerfella Center, in a peroxide-dyed wig, wearing a $10,000 wedding dress.
That is one way to get literally all the spotlight on yourself.
“That was the beginning of the rockstar Dennis Rodman.”
Rodman goes into the story behind him getting married in a wedding dress. (via @30for30) pic.twitter.com/TK4XG91cyI
— ESPN (@espn) September 10, 2019
The scale of the event also exceeded all expectations. As one journalist puts it, “It was bedlam“. And that is as Bulls legend himself says, the beginning of rockstar Dennis Rodman.
Dennis Rodman sought Aerosmith lead Steven Tyler’s approval
But before he became renowned and a face for everything extravagant in the NBA, Dennis sought the approval of an actual rockstar.
He happened to share a hotel with Aerosmith lead, Steven Tyler, and when he went to the gym, he ran the idea by the singer. Tyler was evidently delighted by it.
Rodman told USA Today, “He was like, ‘That’s awesome. That’s great”. And the rest is history. It is truly ironic that in order for Rodman to truly become a rockstar, he had to get the nod of approval from an actual one.
Also read: Dennis Rodman Once Boasted About His Sub-5% Body Fat With Micheal Jordan and Scottie Pippen
