Source: Splash News / Splash News
Odell Beckham Jr. has definitely made his share of headlines over the course of his football career, and now the 26-year-old is addressing the public in one of his most intimate interviews yet.
Beckham spoke with GQ to talk about his recent trade from the New York Giants to the Cleveland Browns, and he also responded to a lot of misconceptions about him during his five plus years in the public spotlight. One thing he addressed was the privacy of his dating life:
“You never hear about my personal life. You never hear about the woman I’m dating or anything like that. And you won’t. I don’t need to give you that. You want to talk about my job, football? We can talk about that. But this is my personal life. There’s two separate lines. So I always try to keep that.”
That’s not all Odell addressed. He also talked about the shifty business of football, his feelings on being perceived as gay, and his plans after the NFL. Hit the flip for some of his most revealing quotes.
On how he was about to quit football after some rough years with the Giants:
“To love something so much to a place where it is my everything, and to watch it be tainted, or all kinds of things be in the middle of it. Like, it hurt me to my soul. It be like loving someone and putting them on such a level to where life is about them and you love that person through anything. Through the good, the bad. And to watch them do something so heinous and vulgar. Something just so, like, almost unforgivable. You still love them, but it’s, like, Wow.”
On addressing criticism:
“It’s just hard to take a lot of criticism and have to sit there and be quiet all the time when you really have so much to say. And I feel like I’ve really dumbed down a lot of what I’ve wanted to say because I know you can’t say everything and I still never would.”
On being perceived as gay:
“I’ve never had an opportunity to talk about this. Honestly wasn’t offended. I’ve never once had no problem with anybody who has their own personal life that they live. I have friends who are gay. It was almost more funny to me. I almost messed with them even more. It’s like when someone gives me an ultimatum, I’m usually always going to go to the opposite way of what you want me to go. So when they would say that, I would almost mess with them even more. I have no problem with anyone’s sexual orientation.”
On some Black publications being critical of him:
“Yes, it makes it worse when it comes from the black community. I feel like everything is a double standard. You want us to support the black community, and then you go out and bash black people for being happy. So someone can’t be happy, someone can’t be dancing.”
On people thinking he’s never with a woman in public:
“‘Oh, he’s always around guys, he’s never around girls.’ I just don’t want you to see what woman I’m with, and I don’t want you in my personal life. I always try to keep my personal life my personal life. I feel like I don’t owe that to anybody.”
On his generous gifts to teammates:
“I talk to everybody in the locker room. When someone gives me free stuff, I ask them to send a hundred of them for my teammates. A hundred Sprayground bags… They put them in the locker room. I asked for them to send me Casper mattresses. They sent me 100 Casper mattresses for the staff and the team.”
On plans after the NFL:
“If you see me talking, it would be to uplift us. To catch somebody when they’re falling. Not to, like, push them a little more or kick them when they’re down. So after football, I could see the movie thing. I can see some shows. I can see some Hollywood-esque stuff. I can also see me mentoring a lot. I just love doing that.”
