Dennis Rodman helped Michael Jordan win three championships in Chicago. “The Worm” was a vital cog in the Bulls’ second three-peat as the team’s defensive anchor and the best rebounder in the league.
But while Jordan allowed Rodman to join his basketball inner circle despite his potential to ruin it, he kept Dennis at a distance regarding his personal life. In fact, MJ didn’t want his two boys to look up to his eccentric teammate.
“I introduced them to Dennis the other day,” said MJ. “I said, ‘I hope you don’t think Dennis is a role model.’ And Marcus said, ‘Yeah, I want red hair.’ I said, ‘Nah, no red hair, no earrings.’ I think they’re fascinated by some of the things they see from kids at school or other kids. But every question they’ve had about him, I corrected them.”
Imitating Dennis’ hair color
While Rodman was a bad boy to the truest meaning of the words, he was a very popular character during his heyday, with many young people who admired him, especially for his fashion—this included body piercings, tattoos, and colorful hairstyles.
For the kids, it was mostly the colorful hairstyle that they imitated from Rodman and Marcus wasn’t an exemption as he too wanted to have red hair.
“Rodman came through one time for my birthday, and he gave me hair dye,” recalled Marcus. “And my parents actually took it from me; they wouldn’t let me have it, and I was so upset about that. I might actually have to talk to Rodman about that; I need that again.”
Marcus said his parents were strict
That, however, wasn’t an isolated incident where MJ was strict with Marcus. During one of the episodes of his “Separation Anxiety podcast,” Jordan’s son admitted to being raised by authoritarian parents and having a unique upbringing in the Jordan household. But despite that, Marcus had his share of big controversies as he grew older.
In 2009, he caused UCF to lose its Adidas deal when he wore an Air Jordan shoe to one of their games. One year later, he was the reason why MGM was investigated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board after he boasted of spending $120K at various Las Vegas nightclubs with his teammates. Then, in 2012, Marcus was arrested for a disturbance caused outside an Omaha hotel. That incident ended his mediocre basketball career.
Marcus once said that when he has his own kids, he wants to be a hands-on parent like his dad. However, he also told his then-beau Larsa Pippen that he likes that she is like a friend to her kids and would want to be the same too.
The two broke up earlier this year, and considering that Michael said he didn’t approve of their relationship, he probably wasn’t sad that it ended.