17 Years Before Revealing Father's Ulterior Motives, Dennis Rodman Deemed Him an 'A**hole' For Bragging About 'Philandering'
Sophia Aguilar
Published Apr 10, 2026
Dennis Rodman did not have a great childhood. His father, Philander Rodman abandoned him and his family when Dennis was just three years old, moving to the Philippines. It wasn’t until recently, that he reached out to The Worm, supposedly hoping to reconnect. But, as Dennis explained in an interview with VladTV, his father had an ulterior motive. He hoped to use his son’s wealth to send one of his other children to college, only increasing Dennis’ resentment toward him tenfold. It was an action that only proved his father was and is an “a**hole” as he had described in his book I Should Be Dead By Now.
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The five-time NBA Champion isn’t exactly a role model for aspiring fathers. He himself has admitted to being a bad father and has only started rekindling his relationship with his own children. Nevertheless, what his father Philander did far outweigh Dennis’ own poor parenting thus far.
Dennis Rodman provided a scathing assessment of his father 17 years prior to being approached for money
Over the years, Dennis Rodman has established his resentment toward his father across several platforms. And, in 2006, The Worm went in on his father in his book I Should Be Dead By Now. Deeming his father to be an “a**hole”, Dennis recalled in his book how there were certain things he never learned growing up.
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Describing how he never truly understood the concept of “love”, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year blamed his lack of understanding on his father. Philander Rodman. was in the Air Force, but abandoned his family to go and settle in the Philippines. Here, he reportedly bragged about the dozens of children he had, fuelling Dennis’ rage toward him.
However, the Hall of Famer felt like he could let go of this anger when his father reached out to him years later. But, as he revealed on VladTV, Philander only reconnected in order to secure funding for Dennis’ half-brother’s college education. A despicable motive that only cemented his status as an “a**hole”.
“I hear tell you’re supposed to learn that as you’re growing up— not in my family. My father, Philander (that’s not a typo), who was career Air Force, disappeared when I was three. People tell me he’s living in the Philippines and reportedly brags about having a couple of dozen children. What an a**hole.”
At this point, it seems as though his relationship with his father is irreparable. But, Philander isn’t the only parent Dennis has issues with. His relationship with his mother Shirley is also far from ideal.
The Worm has issues with his mother much like he does with his father
Much like his relationship with his father, Dennis Rodman had close to no relationship with his mother, Shirley Rodman. The Worm has gone on record time and time again, describing in detail the difficulties he had with his mother. To say they had a close bond would be a gross exaggeration in Dennis’ eyes.
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For starters, Rodman claims his mother gave him very little attention. Starved of intimacy, the only interaction he had with her was when he was getting yelled at. It also didn’t help that years later, Shirley kicked him out of the house once he graduated high school.
His traumatic childhood made things difficult for him as a parent himself. He has been accused of being absent from his children’s lives on more than one occasion. However, this has changed in recent times, as Dennis wished to not wish to see his own children resent him much as he does his parents.
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