So many people expect for childhood trauma for celebrities or professional athletes to just evaporate the moment they leave the horrendous situation. But many who have lived through formative years such as that, can tell you that very, very often, the effects of those experiences aren't even realized until many years later. I would think it would almost make it somehow worse, to have wealth & fame, yet still likely dealing with the emotional/mental scars & after-effects, and likely everyone on the outside may think the money & fame should somehow be the balm to fix it all. And for many, they may not even realize the issues they have are directly related to what they experienced, even though it seems common sense.

I had a traumatic childhood, though not even close to as bad as his - and it wasn't until my late 20's/30 until I began to realize & accept that a lot of my issues stemmed from what I went through. Most of me wanted to block it out - to say, I made it out alive, that time period doesn't affect me anymore. But that's just not the case.

It's not an excuse for shitty behavior - but most people who live through what he did, have many years not in the public eye, to fuck up & have trouble & hammer out the root cause of it all & work through it. For these players, they go from still-kids to the spotlight with pressures & responsibilities that yes, they asked for, but were too young to really understand or are able to foresee that the past will catch up with them and eventually they'll have to deal with it.

I don't care what anyone says about Dez. The fact that he's even remotely able to hold down a job period - much less excell at the highest level of a professional sport - is nothing short of outstanding, and if he's not the emotionally balanced picture-perfect sports role-model in the timeframe everyone else thinks is "right", they're the ones with the mental handicap. He's clearly not an asshole just for the sake of it. There's good reason for him to completely self-destruct, and the fact that he's been even remotely stable even half the time is outstanding. People are way too quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater.