Former major league outfielder Milton Bradley used profane, threatening language toward his estranged wife after she began dating former NBA star Lamar Odom, according to text messages Rachel Bradley filed in their California custody fight.
The messages, obtained and published Friday by TMZ, capture how a dispute over their 7-year-old son’s passport exploded into insults aimed at both Rachel Bradley and Odom, whom Milton Bradley mocked as a “third-place benchwarmer” and tied to Odom’s well-documented history of drug and alcohol problems.
The texts are alleged. Milton Bradley has not publicly confirmed them. TMZ said it sought comment from him and received no response. Odom has not commented.
Rachel Bradley, a Los Angeles-area real estate agent, told the court she reached out to Milton Bradley about a problem with their son Matteo’s passport. In an undated reply she submitted as evidence, he said he was blocking her and would not sign anything.
“Have a good day sucking crackhead d—,” he wrote, according to the filing. “I’m not signing anything from you.” He added that he hoped she died and that he only helped “women I’m f—ing.” He told her to “let third-place benchwarmer figure it out. You left me.”
In other messages included in the same packet, he called her a “whore,” accused her of ruining their family “to suck crackhead d— for a lifestyle,” and said nobody cared about her. He also wrote that he was “forfeiting” Matteo, that he would not be “12 more years a slave,” and that Odom should take responsibility for the boy going forward.
A longer version of one alleged message, first detailed by TMZ earlier in the week, combined several of those themes: “Your lifestyle, figure it out, blocked … Actually hope you and him die over there … let the third place bench warmer figure it out, you left me.”
The language is crude by design. It also maps onto the legal fight: Milton Bradley wants Odom kept away from the children. Rachel Bradley wants legal custody of Matteo and says the texts show why she does not trust leaving the boy alone with his father.
Milton Bradley filed for legal separation in April 2026. He asked for joint legal and physical custody of Matteo and Noah, 17, and requested that Odom not be around the children unless he passed drug and alcohol tests. The filing cited Odom’s past substance-abuse struggles and Odom’s January 2026 DUI arrest in Las Vegas.
Rachel Bradley says the couple has been separated since November 2025. In her response, she asked for legal custody of Matteo, said communication with Milton Bradley had broken down, and alleged he had not seen Matteo since Father’s Day in June and had ignored attempts to arrange time with the boy. She also said she was afraid to leave Matteo alone with him and pointed to hostile, sexually explicit messages sent in reply to routine questions about their child.
The couple married in 2015. They share two sons. Matteo was born in 2019.
The case is not a finished divorce decree. It is a contested family-law matter in which each parent is using the other’s relationship — and the other’s history — as evidence.
