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In today’s episode of Maybe Trump Should Put Tariffs On Podcast Equipment, former NBA star Paul Pierce is dividing the internet with his views on marriage.
During a recent episode of his podcast, The Truth After Dark, which he co-hosts with Azar Farideh, Pierce opened up about the “cheating” and lack of “respect” that went on in his past relationships, and, eventually, that devolved into his cynical views on marriage and how he has no plans to tie the knot again until, maybe, when he’s at the ripe old age of 70.
“All men want at the end of the day is feel appreciated and respected,” he said. “When you start coming home and respect ain’t there… That’s how all my relationships ended.”
From Complex:
He said that he’s been on both sides of cheating, and admitted he stayed with a woman who cheated on him. “I feel like every relationship shouldn’t be based off sex, but every relationship is based of of that,” he said. “That’s why I’ll never be in another relationship, ’cause it’s always based off of that. … Once that wear down, you gonna go find somebody else that’s better.”
From here, he explained his stance on not wanting to get in another relationship and shared his thoughts on marriage. “Let me say what marriage is and who marriage is for: Marriage is for old people and poor people,” he said. “Our parents, like my moms and all them, they married on a merit of like, ‘Okay, we gonna put our incomes together. Have all these kids… We going to have 5-10 kids.’ Back in the ’60s, all them they going to have 5-10 kids so they can work and bring in income. So you poor, you married for that, and now when you get old… somebody has to be by your side to take care of you.”
He revealed that his mother got married when she was 70. “It was perfect, she had somebody by her side the whole way through,” he continued. “Outside of that, it’s no advantage to a man. What does it do for a man when things go south? Like we going to have to give up half our this, pay child support… It’s only advantageous to a woman.”
He said that he’s not interested in “locking no woman down,” and that he can’t see himself getting in another long-term relationship until he turns 70. “We both old, we ain’t out in the streets,” he laughed. “We at home watching TV, you go take me to the hospital, I’mma take you to the hospital. But right now? I’m too cracking right now.” He also said that he’s not interested in being an open relationship, either, because he’s not interested in having multiple partners.
Don’t get me wrong, Pierce’s mother finding a husband at age 70 is pretty inspiring, especially for people who think life ends once you hit your 40s and 50s. Still, it’s pretty wild that the point Pierce and many of his followers (we’ll get into them in a sec) took from that story is that serious relationships are pointless to get into until one is in or near their twilight years.
Pierce, who has three children with his ex-wife, Julie, was already off the rails when he said marriage is only for the poor and elderly, but he jumped the track completely when he declared that marriage is “only advantageous to a woman,” which he bases completely on the assumption that the assumption that a marriage will most likely fail and end in “child support” and a man having to “give up half.”
Of course, the real issue isn’t Pierce and his personal views on long-term relationships, marriage, and who it benefits. Pierce is a financially well-off ex-ball player who has already been through marriage and fatherhood, and now he’s just — oh, I don’t know — spending his bachelorhood podcasting in his bathrobe and swearing off Valentine’s Day, or whatever.
Pierce’s followers, and that of the relationship vlog-o-sphere in general, for that matter, are full of jaded men who view marriage as a thing that benefits women only (even though virtually every recent study on the matter indicates that men benefit more). And despite the fact that most of these men are nowhere near rich, they appear to be deathly afraid of losing half their theoretical riches to hypothetical women they’ve already imagined being married to and divorced from.
And booooy, did Pierce’s anti-marriage diatribe divide social media between those men and people who still believe in love and the practicality of marriage.
Check out some of the reactions below.