Chad Johnson disclosed in a resurfaced clip shared on Monday, Oct. 4, the reason why he lived in the Cincinnati Bengals training facility for two years, despite being a successful athlete.
Johnson, who played for the Bengals from 2001 to 2010 as a wide receiver, discussed his living arrangements with former NFL head coach and Bengals assistant coach Hue Jackson during the “I Am Athlete” podcast.
In the interview, which originally aired last year, Jackson confirmed that the allegations surrounding the rumors of Johnson living in the facility were true. He said, “I can confirm that Chad Johnson stayed in the players lounge at Cincinnati Bengals training facility.”
Johnson immediately jumped in the conversation to defend himself by stating living in the facility was how he saved money. “For two years that’s how you save your money.”
As the video continued, Jackson claimed that he and other people were trying to move Johnson out shortly after it was public knowledge that he was living in the facility. “I thought something was wrong with him and Marvin, like me, said this man needs a house. He needs to move on out of here.”
Johnson wrapped up the discussion by revealing the reason why he stayed so long in the facility was because he felt that getting a place was unnecessary at the time. He said, “I didn’t really need a place.I could have really lived in there. If they didn’t make me move I could have stayed in the stadium. I was locked in.”
When scenes from that interview were shared on The Jasmine Brand’s Instagram page, many people joked about how frugal Johnson is with his money. One even compared the athlete to Christopher “Julius” Rock II, the father on the sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris” starring comedian Chris Rock.
“He’s always been frugal, so I’m not surprised.”
“Now that’s just ridiculously cheap.”
“Chad is frugal afffffff, it don’t get no cheaper than him, 😂.”
“Chad was living in the stadium like that Mayfield commercial 😂😂 priceless.”
“Chad is like Julius from everybody hates Chris. He’s always been very cheap even when he had Money. He really doesn’t splurge at all. He even takes women to McDonald’s on a first date.”
Despite sharing the story, additional details regarding the timeline the situation took place were not provided.
