US striker Trinity Rodman says her relationship with her father, Dennis Rodman, remains strained and that he is still largely absent from her life.

“He is not a father. Maybe through blood, but nothing else,” Trinity Rodman told host Alex Cooper on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast.

The podcast comments reflect what Trinity Rodman told ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson in June 2022.

Rodman said that as a child, her mother tried to protect her two children from the former NBA star’s chaotic lifestyle. Rodman’s mother, Michelle Moyer, divorced Dennis Rodman in 2012.

Trinity Rodman, who won a gold medal with the United States at the Paris Olympics this summer, has a brother, DJ Rodman, who plays in the NBA’s G League.

Dennis Rodman responded to his daughter on Instagram, saying he was sorry he “wasn’t the father you wanted” and said he has tried to be a father and will continue to try.

“I will try, even if it is difficult and takes a long time. I’m always here telling you all the time, preferably by voice or voicemail, how proud I am. I always had one wish and that was: “I wish for my children.” “I would call and hopefully come over one day,” he wrote in the post.

Trinity Rodman, who also plays for the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League, recalled how her father showed up unannounced at a Spirit playoff game in 2021.

She hadn’t spoken to her father in months and was emotional during the game. She was then photographed crying in his arms.

“The whistle blew and I was so angry, as if I thought: ‘You have taken away this happy moment from me. You’ve got me confused again,'” she said on the podcast.

“I think after that I lost hope of ever getting him back. It was just like he would stop by whenever he was going to be on camera,” Trinity Rodman said. “Even in that game, I don’t think it was for me. I think he wanted to have a clear conscience and then say, ‘Headline: Dennis Rodman showed up to his daughter’s game.'”

Trinity Rodman won a title with the Spirit this year and was named NWSL Rookie of the Year. She said that after that game, she didn’t speak to her father again until after the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Trinity Rodman and the Spirit lost to the Orlando Pride in the 2024 NWSL Championship game.

Dennis Rodman won five NBA championships in his 14-year career. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Information from Charlotte Gibson of ESPN and The Associated Press was used in this story.