Trinity Rodman opens up about relationship with father Dennis: ‘He’s not a dad. Maybe by blood, but nothing else’

When Trinity Rodman broke into NWSL stardom, the first thing many people learned about her is she was the daughter of mercurial NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman.

The child of a sporting great becoming a star themselves is not an uncommon story in America. It usually features a naturally gifted child, allowed to blossom from a young age, with their parent cheering them on at every stage. What was always made very clear about Trinity Rodman, however, was that Dennis had very little to do with her greatness.

In public, Rodman would always credit her mother Michelle Moyer as her role model. Dennis and Moyer divorced in 2012, when Trinity was approximately 10 years old. Trinity’s relationship with Dennis was always described as complicated, at best, with father enjoying a lifestyle hardly conducive to child-rearing and daughter experiencing long stretches without speaking to father.

Then Trinity went onto the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and for the first time laid bare her emotions about Dennis, in an episode published Wednesday. She recalled her father refusing to give her mother any money to help them, and being extremely controlling when he would grant them access to his money.

Trinity described living with her mother in a Ford Expedition “for a bit” and giving up on living with her father because of “parties 24/7” and him “bringing random bitches in.” She remembers going to events like his jersey retirement and his Hall of Fame induction, being styled in hair and makeup, all while knowing that the image he was portraying was far from the truth.

And then there was what happened when Dennis wanted to be known as a father, when he showed up at one of Trinity’s games unannounced in 2021. She saw and heard him in the crowd, having not seen or heard from him in months, and started crying on the field.

Trinity set up the winning goal in the second half, and didn’t know how she was going to feel or what was going to happen once the final whistle blew and she would have to interact with her father.

Trinity said the rest of their time together after the game was pretty “wholesome,” and Dennis told her that he wanted to see her soon. She felt good enough about their interaction to post about “a new beginning” for both of them on social media. That was in 2021. After that, it was “radio silence.” He never reached out to her, and she didn’t see him again for over two years, until late 2023.

It was after that incident with her father in her rookie year that Trinity says she “lost hope in ever getting him back.”

Trinity now stands as one of the brightest stars in soccer, with an Olympics gold medal, an NWSL championship, a CONCACAF championship, two FIFA Best XI honors and an NWSL Rookie of the Year award at only 22 years old. She is the face of the Washington Spirit, a team that reached the NWSL final this year and is projected by many to do the same in 2025, and part of a devastating attack for the USWNT with Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith.

She’s still working on her relationship with Dennis, but has a stark outlook on it. She doesn’t have his number saved because he constantly changes it and never tells her. She believes he’s an alcoholic, and hearing his voice when he calls is “painful” due to both missing him and hearing how alcoholism has changed the way he speaks. In fact, Trinity says that every time they interact on the phone it “f***s me up.” But she still takes his calls, even though they’re rare.