Former NFL star Darren Waller claimed he “was never perfect” when addressing his divorce from Kelsey Plum .
Last month, Waller retired from the NFL , ending his tenure with the New York Giants after a single season. His decision to step away from the game followed a breakdown in his marriage with Plum. They filed for divorce, and soon after, he made a foray into music in bizarre fashion.
Waller discussed his highly publicized split from Plum on Monday’s Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club. ” He spoke about how recent experiences, including his relationship with the WNBA star, have affected him.
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“You talk about get honest or die lying, you kinda got to look at yourself and realize, alright, what role am I playing that all the relationships in my life have always had the same patterns?” Waller said. “It kinda plays into everything else I was mentioning earlier, the co-dependency aspect like, any time I’m in a relationship, I feel like I gotta dance or do a certain thing to keep this person around, almost tying my self-worth to the success of a relationship, and you realize how much you lose yourself and doing the things that you love and things that take care of you on a daily basis.
“Making this person kind of like the center of your universe and how unhealthy that is for everybody involved. Realizing that and realizing the impact that it was having on me, as far as making decisions that were authentic for the life that I wanted, these are things that I couldn’t say 100 percent yes to. You have certain conversations and realize there’s so much life ahead of both of us, might as well just go ahead and live it and move on and no type of hostility.”
Plum and Waller emerged as a power couple in Las Vegas’ burgeoning sports world, as the pair went public with their relationship in 2022 after dating privately for an indeterminate period of time. She played for the WNBA powerhouse Aces while Waller featured on the Raiders.
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In March 2023, Waller wed Plum before was traded to the Giants. When news of their divorce went public, Plum posted a cryptic message revealing the split as “devastating” and that “one day I’ll share my story, today is not that day.”
On Monday, Waller suggested Plum can say what she pleases, adding: “I was never perfect, and some of the reasons that motivated me to leave, they caused harm, they hurt, I respect whatever way she wants to express herself. I’m out here trying to improve and by no means claiming to be a victim in any way, I’m all good with it.”
In May, Waller released a new song entitled Who Knew (Her Version), an apparent swipe at Plum. The pair were married for 13 months before the couple's April divorce, and his new single speaks to Plum's supposed betrayal.
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Released on YouTube , Waller's single attracted more than 80,000 viewers within the first 24 hours and features pointed lyrics such as "Take your time and heal," "How long I got to climb up this hill?" and a repeating chorus of "who knew love could kill." Waller's three-minute music video also featured a female actress stabbing him in the back, with the woman looking eerily similar in appearance to Plum.
The 31-year-old suggested he could lean more into music after retiring from football: “I feel something, in a way, like spiritually pulling me in that direction. I don’t have any expectations with it, but I believe in myself and the growth that I’m having as an artist and stuff I’m going to be putting out, so, something I want to definitely devote time to among a lot of other things.”
Waller began his career with two years at the Baltimore Ravens before he was suspended for the entire 2017 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The Raiders signed him off of Baltimore’s practice squad in 2018, leading to his breakout campaigns in 2019 and 2020. Waller ended his NFL career with 350 receptions, 4,124 receiving yards, and 20 touchdowns in 86 games.
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