Dennis Rodman was a household name in the 90s due to his eccentric lifestyle and brilliant rebounding ability. The five-time NBA champion exhilarated the fans with his rugged, no-nonsense style of basketball. However, fame and riches were hard to come by for Rodman, who had to go through many rough moments while growing up.

His father left him when he was young and his mother grew tired of him and eventually threw him out. In an interview a few years ago, Rodman mentioned how he used to steal watches from airport shops. Instead of getting money by selling them, he used to give them away for free to his friends.

Rodman revealed that he did that to make people from his neighborhood happy. He was influenced by what others from his ghetto were doing. He said, “It’s like see monkey, do monkey. I got caught up in the whole system there. If they’re doing it, why can’t I do it.”

“So I did it, stole some watches. I think I stole like 50-55 watches and never came to my mind to sell them“, Rodman revealed. He continued, “I just went and gave them away to my friends in school“. While Rodman was making sure he didn’t get caught in the act, he didn’t realize that there were cameras around.

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“I didn’t expect that, you know, being dumb and naive, I didn’t know they had cameras in airports“, Rodman said. He didn’t expect the cops to notice him. “Dumb criminals right, I’m one of them“, Rodman lamented.

Dennis Rodman was eventually arrested

The former Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons legend was arrested and taken to jail. He said, “Luckily for me, they went to my high school and got all the watches back“. This eventually led to the charges being dropped as Rodman was still just 18-19 years old.

However, he wasn’t that scared when he was taken to jail. He said, “That was an airport jail, not the real jail. It was a small jail, with this other guy“. His mother told him that she didn’t have any money to bail him out. So he had to stay there for a few days while his mother tried to arrange some money.

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It was after this incident that his mother told him to move out because he wasn’t earning any money. Rodman would end up being a crucial part of five different championship teams and he is considered one of the greatest rebounders of all time.