By Prince Hakeem
A couple of years ago, Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson and Evelyn Lozada were once briefly married. It seemingly came to an abrupt end after just a month when Lozada became a victim of domestic assault at the hands of Johnson. Ochocinco, who was on his way out of the NFL at that time, kind of kickstarted the long trend of athletes getting trouble for domestic violence against their partners. Ironically enough, Johnson just missed the peak attention surrounding cancel athletes for domestic violence. Johnson has been able to move on after the football and the incident without too many people in media and the public sphere bringing it up. He definitely isn’t remembered in the same vain as Ray Rice for example. Nonetheless, after about 7 years, Evelyn Lozada has gotten to a place where she has forgiven him and moved on.
Via Page Six:
Chad Johnson’s ex-wife says that she doesn’t “have an ounce of hate” toward him — even though she was hospitalized after he allegedly head-butted her.
Evelyn Lozada, who divorced Johnson shortly after the incident, told Page Six, “I am cool with Chad. We don’t phone each other all the time, but if I see him I don’t have one ounce of hate in my heart for him.”
She added, “You have to be able to forgive people because I feel if I am walking around angry, it takes away from the person that I want to be.”
“The Perfect Date” author told us that it “took some time,” but said that if she were to see him in public now, they’d get along fine. “I would have no ill will toward him,” she said.
NFL star Johnson, who was then known as “Ochocinco,” was arrested in August 2012 — just a month after their wedding — for domestic battery. He later pleaded no contest and received a year of probation. At the time, TMZ published a photo of Lozada with a bloody gash on her forehead.
She told us it was “humiliating that my daughter saw me like that in the hospital… I never wanted her to think that this was OK. That is why I left [Johnson] — because I wanted to be an example for her.”
