Terrell Owens Reflects on How Being “Teased” and Rejected by Black Women Made Him Pursue Relationships Outside His Race: “There Was a Lot of Self-Esteem Issues” [Video]

Terrell Owens reflected on his dating outside of his race during an Instagram Live with Chad Ochocinco this past weekend.

The former NFL player said during the exchange, “My experiences with Black women growing up wasn’t so good.”

He said,  “When I started dating white girls- my first experience with white girls was when I went to college. I tried to date some Black girls when I was in college. They did not like me. I was skinny, I was scrawny, I was teased from high school even to college, I got teased for being dark-skinned. So there was a lot of self-esteem issues.”

“Nah, I’m being dead honest,” Owens continued. “When I got my opportunity, my first experience with a white girl, it wasn’t bad. But I just totally gravitated to white girls after that. That wasn’t the situation. So again, my experiences with Black women growing up wasn’t so good. But that still didn’t deter me from still dating or pursuing Black girls. So my thing now is, because I know there’s a stigma that’s stereotypical of athletes to go off and make money and date the opposite color, opposite race. But for me now, where I am, it’s not even about color, it’s not even about race. For me, it’s about somebody that I have some chemistry with, good energy, and I get a good vibe with. That’s where I am. We all want somebody that’s attractive, you know what I mean? Aesthetics are gonna play a big part.”

“Anybody that says ‘Oh, well I don’t care what a person looks like,’ that’s a lie,” he concluded. “That’s a lie, we all want somebody that we can roll over and wake up to that looks pleasing to the eye. Everybody’s experiences have been different. When I grew up, my high school is pretty much, it’s 50… I don’t know what percentage of Black and white, but I lived in a Black neighborhood. At the end of the day, I attempted to date Black girls. When I was younger, I wasn’t as handsome as I am now. I didn’t have this beautiful smile as I have now. I was a late bloomer. And when I bloomed, boy did I bloom.”