Dennis Rodman once believed he was gay during his teenage years due to how much he hung out with his sisters.
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Dennis Rodman had quite the enigmatic upbringing during his formative years in the projects of Dallas. He was raised by his single mom, Shirley, alongside his two sisters, Kim and Debra. Rodman’s father, Philander, settled in the Philippines not long after the future NBA superstar was born, hence the single parent upbringing.
While Dennis Rodman did grow up with 2 sisters, he once stated that he had as many as 47 siblings due to his father’s tendency to sleep around. Growing up in an all women household, Rodman wasn’t exactly exuding the most masculine energy during his teenage years.
This of course changed when he went all in on basketball while at South Eastern Oklahoma State. He would eventually get picked up by the Detroit Pistons in the 1986 NBA Draft and the rest is history.
His NBA superstar status coupled with his free-spirited nature led to him having a slew of relationships with women during his career. However, this might’ve not happened if he didn’t have a revelation about himself early on.
Dennis Rodman thought he was gay growing up.
Being around his mother, Debra, and Kim all day long would certainly result in him indulging in more feminine activities than most guys. So, when he was around 14 or 15 years old, Rodman, according to himself, believed he was gay because of how much he hung out with his sisters.
“I was very shy and very insecure. You know, I thought that when I was 14, 15, that I was gay because I hung out with my sisters a lot. Everybody was like, ‘You got any guy friends?’ and I was like, ‘No.’ I felt secure hanging out with my mother and my sisters,” said the 5x NBA champion on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Rodman has said on a couple of occasions that he finds it to be no big deal to be intimate with men. While he isn’t gay as showcased by his high profile relationships with women like Madonna and Carmen Electra, he certainly was curious at one point.
