Carmen Electra has spoken candidly about her brief marriage to basketball star Dennis Rodman, revealing that the relationship was fuelled by her grief over her mother's death. The 42-year-old actress appeared on Oprah Winfrey's Where Are They Now? show, where she became emotional while discussing the tumultuous union.
Electra explained that she was 26 and on the set of her first film when she learned her mother had a brain tumour. 'And literally a couple of days after coming home, she died,' she said, overcome with emotion. Shortly after, she met Rodman, then 53, and their roller-coaster relationship began.
Describing Rodman, Electra said: 'I remember meeting Dennis and Dennis was the life of the party. He was fun.' She added that despite his reputation as a bad boy, she saw 'a gentle giant in a lot of pain. We understood each other.' The couple married in a Las Vegas chapel in 1998 and separated about a year later.
Electra credited Oprah with helping her heal, recalling a show where Winfrey said 'in order to heal, you have to feel'. She realised she had not dealt with her mother's death and had instead created chaos in her life. 'It took quite a bit of time, getting myself back together,' she said.
Rodman, a former NBA star with the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
