Dwight Howard says he’s a changed man. In this detailed story about him on Bleacher Report he speaks on seeing what happened in Ferguson and wanting to do more for the community. He wants to be a role model for the kids and do positive things. Good for him, one of the first things he acknowledged for the first time is he has more than one child. For the longest time he only claimed publicly his son that he had with Ex-Magic dancer Royce Reed. Here is what Dwight had to say.
Howard mentions that he’s still working through relationships with his family members. He admits that he hasn’t been the most wholesome father, having four children—two sons and two daughters, ages seven, four, four and one—with several different women. But he says he’s very involved in each of their lives, while maintaining their privacy.
“I know how harsh the Internet and social media can get, and I don’t want to put my kids through that,” he says. “I don’t want them to have to go to school, and kids are like, ‘Your dad did this. He sucks.’ I don’t want them to have to feel that same kind of hate that I have received. But I spend as much time as I can with them, and I truly love and care for them.”
It appears he is saying he wasn’t claiming his kids because he didn’t want them to be made fun of at school, but the oldest is 7, so that wouldn’t really come into play. Also he is off with the number, he has as many as 8 kids. No real reason he is trying to lower the number besides PR. With that being said at least he is making an effort publicly to be in their lives.
The guns are a little more concerning.
hen there are Howard’s more exuberant activities, like riding around his neighborhood with his friends in his Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled bikes. He also likes going to the gun range—”It’s what you do in Texas,” he says—and he has about 10 different kinds in his collection encompassing more than 50 total, including shotguns, semiautomatics and handguns, such as one of his favorites, a gold-looking Desert Eagle pistol. He also collects, just for show, miniguns and bazookas.
But there’s no better way to describe Howard’s eccentricity and connection to Texas than through his pet snakes at home. All 20 of them. I tell him at dinner, not expecting a serious response, “I’ve got to see them before I leave Houston.”
Howard is an odd guy, a kid trapped in a grown man body. Someone who wanted the NBA logo to be Jesus, but has kids spread out all over the country. Not, sure I would feel comfortable with someone as emotionally fragile as he is with 50 guns but it is what it is.
On the court, I think what you see is what you are going to get from Dwight for the rest of his career. He has peaked and maxed out, which is fine, because that is still a lot better than a lot of the big men in the NBA. he will forever now be stuck in a secondary role and I think he is fine with that.