“I Was Before Dennis Rodman”: Charles Barkley Once Cleared the Air on Rumors About Dating Madonna

Hall-of-Famer forward Charles Barkley was notorious for many off-court issues throughout his illustrious NBA career. However, one of the biggest noteworthy pop culture moments involving the Suns legend was people spotting him on a date with pop icon Madonna in the 90s. That had triggered a lot of scandalous rumors at the time.

However, Sir Charles put to bed any rumors surrounding a romantic relationship with the award-winning artist in a 2022 interview with Dan Patrick. However, he still ended up bragging that he was before Dennis Rodman in his affiliation with Madonna.

On the Dan Patrick Show two years ago, Patrick asked his good friend about the release of a biography on the 11-time All-Star by Timothy Bella. However, Barkley revealed that he had no participation in the creation of the book. Regardless, Patrick pointed out that the book highlights Barkley’s brief association with Madonna

In response, the Chuckster silenced all murmurs. He said,

“I was before Dennis. We met to dinner one time and that’s it. She’s awesome but that’s the only time we’ve ever met.”

The longstanding rumor has circled Barkley for over 30 years. In 1993, Barkley and Madonna were spotted together at a restaurant with a few other guests. However, Barkley revealed that the outing only lasted a few hours and the two never saw each other again. He also said that he had to attend the dinner on someone else’s request.

The truth of the situation didn’t stop Dan Patrick from teasing Barkley. He continued to point out the fact that Barkley’s date came before Rodman and Madonna’s relationship. The only difference is the other relationship was actually real.

Rodman and Madonna’s infamous relationship

Rodman wasn’t always a famous and flamboyant personality throughout his NBA career. During his first few seasons in the league, he was a role player that excelled on defense and rebounding the ball. However, his notoriety took a turn once he began dating Madonna.

The famous singer is known for her over-the-top performances and outfits, which blended extremely well with Rodman. They were only together for a few months but their tumultuous relationship made headlines in news outlets across America.

In Rodman’s memoir Bad As I Wanna Be, he revealed details of the relationship. “We never had any problems,” Rodman said. “It was one of the easiest relationships I’d ever been in.” However, the reason things came to an end was Rodman didn’t want people to see him as “Madonna’s Playboy.”

The former Bulls star even went on to reveal in an interview with DJ VLAD that he and Madonna had a contract, which stated he’d earn $20 million if he got her pregnant. “It’s more like a mutual agreement and a contract. No, it didn’t happen but I tried,” Rodman had said.

Madonna has since denied this claim.