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Terrell Owens: Former NFL Star Claims to Be Broke and Friendless
January 20, 2012
From former NFL star to broke and friendless.
That's how life is going for Terrell Owens.
Owens, a six-time Pro Bowler who is known for "The Catch II" in San Francisco, racked up over 1,000 catches and 15,934 receiving yards in his career, to go along with 153 receiving touchdowns. But when the Cincinnati Bengals didn't renew his one-year, $2 million contract last year, he went from living the life to living in misery.
When people ask him how he is, Owens now says, per GQ:
“I’m in hell. I don’t have no friends. I don’t want no friends. That’s how I feel.”
Owens is not only bitter, he's also going broke. He claims that it's not because of a lavish lifestyle, but because some people are doing him wrong. He said his financial investors lured him into some unsuccessful investments. On top of that, he's paying $44,600 a month in child support for his four children. Three of the four mothers have sued him.
On the other side of the coin, some say he's at least partially responsible for his situation. While his talent was undeniable in the NFL, he was also projected as a disruptive force, and his dramatic behavior appeared to only affirm his reputation. The media ate him up and, before long, the sentiment had spread across the league, which is in part why teams didn't want to sign him last year.
Some claim that Owens' torn ACL after he was released by the Bengals wasn't the main reason he wasn't signed.
Said "an executive at one of the better teams," per GQ:
"It's not his knee that's the problem; it's his attitude. He may have been less openly divisive with the Bengals, but you can't live down the destruction of all those years. With T.O., no matter how brilliant he can be on the field, the dark side is always lurking. You don't know which T.O. you're going to get, and no one is comfortable risking that."
That is why not everybody is sympathetic towards Owens. He's burned enough bridges throughout the years that it's no wonder why he feels friendless. I think you could also say he's been burned a few times, as well.
If anything, this story is simply sad. Regardless of how you feel about Owens, it's a dismal story all around. It's also a tale about how no one in this life is invincible.
Owens used to be on top of the world. Now he's back to square one at 38 years of age.
