Source: Variety / Getty
Owens hasn’t played in the league since 2012, but he’s remained relevant and recently hopped on Instagram Live with
Chad Ochocinco.
The conversation between the two former NFL players quickly turned to
dating as TO explained how his treatment by Black woman as a young man influenced his dating choices and self-confidence.
“My experiences with Black women growing up wasn’t so good. 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,” Owens explained. “They did not like me. I was skinny, I was scrawny, I was teased from high school even to college, and I got teased for being dark-skinned. So there was a lot of self-esteem issues.”
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Owens then explains the trope that comes with a successful man shunning Black women to date white women, though he says that for him, it’s got nothing to do with the color of their skin and more to do with their personality.
“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,” he added. “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.”
Owens says that when he was younger, he wasn’t nearly as much of a catch as he is now that he tried to date Black women as a kid, lived in a Black neighborhood, and attended a mixed high school.
See how social media is reacting to Owens’ experience with colorism and how it pushed him to date white women below.