The ghost of daddy issues past raised its ugly head this week for women’s soccer star Trinity Rodman.
Rodman is the daughter of Dennis Rodman, whose eccentricities got more attention during his NBA playing career than his sterling defensive abilities and whose post-NBA life has included a friendship with North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un.
On Monday, ESPN announcers brought that up while doing a Wimbledon crowd shot during a match that featured Ben Shelton, Trinity Rodman’s boyfriend.
ESPN mentioned her as “the girlfriend of Ben Shelton, great soccer player in her own right, the daughter of former basketball star Dennis Rodman,” according to the New York Post.
That hit a nerve, as Rodman showed in an Instagram Story, according to Fox News.
“For Ben’s matches he has his family there as his support system, which includes his dad… my dad’s not even in MY life no need to bring him up during HIS matches when I don’t even want him talked about during mine,” Trinity wrote.
Once again can the media leave Trinity Rodman alone and stop bringing up her dad for everything lol pic.twitter.com/t28O7a4zrk
— Key 👻🖤🏆 (@Frejoregui) July 7, 2025
“It’s him and his loved ones’ moment. Thank you,” she wrote.
Do you watch tennis?
She also had to slap ESPN upside the head for botching something very important to her.
“For those who don’t know… my name is TRINITY not Tiffany,” she said.
She spoke about her relationship with her father in a December podcast.
“I lost hope in ever getting him back, I answer the phone now for my conscience to be like, ‘He needed to hear my voice’ before anything happens,” she said then. “That’s why I answer the phone, not for me..”
“He’s not a dad. Maybe by blood but nothing else,” she said then, according to On3.
“With the dad situation, in terms of what I’ve filtered and what I’ve talked about, I feel like me and my brother have been very generous with the way that we’ve talked about it and very unselfish. I think we never want to make him look bad, and that is at the cost of holding in a lot, and a lot of issues we’ve gone through and just like, trauma, per se,” she said.
If these Wimbledon broadcasters call Trinity Rodman “Tiffany” one more time, I might lose my mind
— sam (@samfarisss) July 7, 2025
“Even now, I’m trying to be honest about it, and I’m still giving him sympathy. Which is frustrating for me because in reality, I think he’s an extremely selfish human being. I think everything has always been about him,” she said.
Trinity Rodman plays for the Washington Spirit of the NWSL and is a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team.
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