Chad Ochocinco Gains Support After Discussing Domestic Dispute, Anger Management
Chad Johnson, 34-year-old troubled NFL star, opened up in his first interview since allegedly headbutting ex-wife Evelyn Lozada and admitted that he was wrong and needed to seek help.
Johnson allegedly headbutted Lozada on Aug. 11, after the "Basketball Wives" star reportedly found a receipt for contraceptives that he purchased and confronted him about it. Johnson appeared on "Inside The NFL" on Wednesday night where he made sure to acknowledge his mistakes, apologize for them and speak about improving the situation.
While the world watched Johnson get cut from his hometown Miami Dolphins following the dispute on HBO's "Hard Knocks," the free agent NFL wideout revealed the reason behind his termination.
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"First of all I had an altercation. An altercation with my wife and the consequences of my altercation with my wife was me being released," Johnson said on "Inside The NFL". "I lost two things that I love: football and being married. Being a husband, being a lover was an honor. And I lost that."
The football star admitted that he finally realized the impact of his actions.
"They have that saying, 'You never know what you have until it's gone," Johnson said. "And now I finally know what they mean."
Although the flamboyant wideout tattooed Lozada's face on his leg and publicly declared that he would not divorce her on Twitter, the dissipation of their marriage was finalized this week. Now Johnson admits that he has nothing to say to the "Basketball Wives" star that was involved in a domestic dispute with him.
"What I need to do is work on Chad. There's nothing I can say to her because she's already heard it already," Johnson said. "I can say it through my actions. Because actions speak louder than words. This is the time for me to show actions. Period."
The wideout said he has no issues taking full responsibility for the altercation which led to his loss in endorsements, termination from the Dolphins and cancellation of his joint VH1 reality television show with Lozada.
"I take full responsibility for everything. Always will. Always have," Johnson admitted. "Where do I go from here? I gotta work on Chad."
The football star said he needed to do some soul searching and sort out his priorities.
"Chad has to work on Chad. Chad has to go deep down inside and figure out where you went wrong," Johnson said. "At what point did you lose focus on what's most important – especially the game of football. There was a time where, when I touched that field Sunday, you knew what time it was. At some point, I had drifted off track away from that."
According to Johnson, he is beginning to turn his life around by taking anger management classes.
"I'm taking classes. Anger management classes," Johnson said. "I'm trying to find out how to channel my anger in situations where I would pop off – how to diffuse those situations."
Spectators who watched "Inside The NFL" on Tuesday night sounded off on Johnson's statements, showing their support for the football star.
"I listened to the @ochocinco interview and it takes a lot of heart to admit mistakes and take 100 (percent) of the blame," one person tweeted.
"@ochocinco I rarely get caught up in the lives of public figures. But congrats on that move with anger management," another person tweeted. "Trust me it works son."
