Delonte West, the former NBA player, opened up about his bipolar disorder and revealed that he didn’t name his son after himself because of the rumor that he slept with former-teammate LeBron James’ mother.
West, 30, is trying to regain a spot in the NBA, and recently participated in a short interview segment for Vice. In the video, West spoke about how his bipolar disorder affected his professional career and how fatherhood has changed him. In fact, West holds his son, Cash, throughout the majority of the video.
In the interview, West admits that the LeBron James rumor and his bipolar disorder has kept him from moving forward with his career, and he also said he didn’t want to give his son his name to keep him from being saddled with the James rumor:
“His middle name is Delonte, but I didn’t want to name him Delonte West Jr. just because of that. I didn’t want my son going to school and people making fun of him for something his daddy did. He goes to school, ‘Oh, didn’t your daddy have sex with LeBron’s mama?’”
West played for the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside James, but his promising career hit a few speed bumps: a 2009 arrest publicized his bipolar disorder and James’ poor performance in the 2010 NBA playoffs spawned rumors that West had slept with James’ mother Gloria James.
After his arrest, West’s lucrative career took a sudden downturn and he divorced his first wife. And, once the rumor about James’ mother gained steam, West was constantly asked about it.
“It affected me. Everywhere I go, first question, ‘Don’t tell me you did that,’” West said in a 2012 interview.
Both West and James have denied the validity of these rumors, though West has been more vocal: “Number one, something like that never happened. I don’t know where they got that from.”
Some reports have taken his recent comments as confirmation that the rumor is true, but West continues to deny those allegations in various interviews.
“I’m not living for just me anymore, you know? It’s [fatherhood] changed me,” West told Vice.
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