+
Pop Culture

NFL star Chad Ochocinco saved 80% of his money by flying coach and wearing fake jewelry

He was flashy, not materialistic.

chad johnson, chad ochocinco, athlete bankruptcy

Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson in 2006.

A startling number of professional athletes face financial hardships after they retire. The big reason is that even though they make a lot of money, the average sports career is relatively short: 3.3 years in the NFL; 4.6 years in the NBA; and 5.6 years in MLB. During that time, athletes often dole out money to friends and family members who helped them along the way and can fall victim to living lavish, unsustainable lifestyles.

After the athlete retires they are likely to earn a lot less money, and if they don’t adjust their spending, they’re in for some serious trouble.

In a candid interview with NFL Hall of Famer and TV personality Shannon Sharpe, Chad Ochocinco (legally Chad Johnson) revealed that he saved 80 to 83% of the $48 million he made in the NFL by faking his lavish lifestyle because it made no sense to him.


The former Cincinnati Bengal, New England Patriot and Miami Dolphin was known for being a diva on the field but was financially conservative when he took off his jersey. He wore fake jewelry from Claire's and prefers to fly coach instead of private.

"I ain't flying private. Put me on Spirit," Ochocinco told Sharpe. "Exit row, window seat, that's all I need. As long as I get from point A to point B. I don't need private."

Ochocinco didn't need to project an image because his reputation spoke for itself. "If you can get to a point in your career where your name becomes bigger than anything you can purchase, there's your value,” he said. “My name itself, Ochocinco, at one point, was bigger. We talk about watches and jewelry and chains—never bought real anything while I was playing. What was the point? I went to Claire's.”

The former NFL wide receiver doesn't need a fancy watch when it’s free to ask someone the time.

"Why am I buying a $50,000 watch? An $80,000 watch? What time is it real quick?" Ochocinco asked Sharpe. "How much that cost me? Time is free," Ochocinco said.

He admitted that spending all your time and money trying to impress people is a losing game that doesn’t get anyone anywhere. "People aren't going to listen because we are caught up in looking a certain way, living a certain way, trying to appease others who don't really care nothing about you, just to say 'Oh, I got it.'"

He admitted that he gives his kids whatever they need and lets them splurge some but wants them to understand the importance of living within their means.

“I allow the kids to enjoy, but I need them to understand there’s gonna come a time you’re gonna have to get off that payroll, but for right now, I will always be there for them,” he told Sharpe. “No matter what they want. Long as you don’t try to live a lifestyle that you know you can’t afford.”

Even though Ochocinco was a multimillion-dollar athlete and one of the biggest names in sports, his message pertains to just about everyone. People should spend their time, energy and money creating a reputation for themselves rather than wasting their resources trying to impress people.

Fancy cars, jewelry and friends who like you for your money won’t be around for long. But your name lasts forever.

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

Keep ReadingShow less

11-year-old girl is the youngest opera singer in the world.

The majority of 11-year-olds are perfectly content balancing the pre-teen life with Barbie dolls and tinted lipgloss. But one pre-teen is busy breaking records. Victory Brinker is an 11-year-old opera prodigy who was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's youngest opera singer in 2019 when she was almost 8 years old.

If you like opera—or even if you don't—hearing her vocal range of three octaves and voice control is impressive. When it comes to singing, control of your breath, pitch and tone can be difficult, especially when you're without years of classical training. Victory's skill is so impressive that when she appeared on America's Got Talent last year, she was given the "golden buzzer," which sends you straight to the finalist round in Hollywood.

Keep ReadingShow less
@allbelongco/TikTok

How bizarre, how bizarre.

It should go without saying that it’s not cool to steal from your Airbnb. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen.

However, when one Airbnb host recently discovered a guest had—for some strange reason—stolen one of her paintings, then replaced it with a completely different painting, she decided to make the best out of a very uncool situation by sharing the story on TikTok.

As a result, viewers got to witness an continuously unraveling, truly bizarre modern-day art heist.

Okay, let’s get into it.

Keep ReadingShow less

Brianna Greenfield makes nachos for her husband.

A viral video showing a woman preparing nachos for her "picky" spouse after he refused to eat the salmon dinner she cooked has sparked a contentious debate on TikTok. The video was shared on April 26 by Brianna Greenfield (@themamabrianna on TikTok) and has since earned over 2.5 million views.

Brianna is a mother of two who lives in Iowa.

The video starts with Brianna grating a massive hunk of cheese with a caption that reads: “My husband didn’t eat the dinner that I made…So let’s make him some nachos.”

“If I don’t feed him, he literally won’t eat,” she wrote. “This used to irritate me. Now I just blame his mother for never making him try salmon,” Greenfield wrote. The video features Meghan Trainor’s single “Mother” playing in the background.

Keep ReadingShow less
@miztermiller/TikTok

Now THAT'S a deal.

Let's be real—buying secondhand allows us to save a few bucks, which is great. But the real thrill is the possibility of snagging that ultra-rare, one-of-a-kind item that’s worth a bajillion times more than we originally paid for it. Yes, that kind of shopping is a lottery unto itself. But man, what a jackpot, should you win.

And of course, it’s not a totally far-fetched fantasy. Costly things get thrown out or donated all the time, ready to be procured at the nearby thrift store, garage sale…

…or, in this case, Facebook Marketplace.

Keep ReadingShow less

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton talks about the reality of surrogacy.

No matter how you become a mother, the journey is worth it. But oftentimes people omit the negative parts for many reasons, whether it's a desire to not make people feel bad for them or to not appear ungrateful. Thankfully, the taboo around the hard topics of infertility and pregnancy have been lifting, and people are feeling more free to express themselves.

Recently, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, former co-star of "The Cheetah Girls" and co-host of "The Real," revealed her own struggles with infertility and the mixed feelings that came along with it. While we know Bailon-Houghton eventually welcomed a son, Ever James, via surrogate, this is the first time we've heard the unexpected revelation of the new mom feeling frustrated by the surrogacy process.

During the time leading up to finding a surrogate, Bailon-Houghton and her husband, Isreal Houghton, tried to conceive for six years.

Keep ReadingShow less