Evelyn Lozada Recounts Ochocinco Incident
Almost a year after Evelyn Lozada's ex-husband, former Miami Dolphins player and Dancing with the Stars contestant Chad Ochocinco, was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge for allegedly head-butting her, the Basketball Wives star is opening up with new details about the incident in her revealing August cover interview with Latina magazine.
"I had a skirt on, and I was using the bottom of it to wipe the blood off my face," Lozada recounts about the scary incident. "I could hear Chad's car because he was driving around looking for me and I hid behind that pillar and prayed. I remember praying to God, like, 'If you help me get out of this situation, I will never, ever go back to that man.'"
Looking back on the situation, she says that "daddy issues" were partly the reason to blame for the abusive relationship.
"I allowed him to treat me that way because I had daddy issues and insecurities and felt like I wasn't worthy of having a good man," she says. "I had to look at that and say, 'Do you not value yourself?' I made a conscious decision to change."
As for her controversial role in the VH1 reality series Basketball Wives, in which she was labeled a "bully" in a widely supported online petition calling for a boycott of the show due to the often physical confrontations between cast members, she owns up to all her actions.
"I was filming the show and thinking, 'I don't care what anybody thinks about me, I'm not trying to be a role model' -- not realizing the impact that my behavior has on the world," she explains.
Related: Judge Sends Chad Johnson to Jail After Butt Slap
But she clarifies that her behavior on the show does not excuse Ochocinco's actions.
"A lot of people connected my previous actions on the show to this," Lozada says. "If they were talking about the incident on the news, there would be a clip of me acting a fool on Basketball Wives. I never lifted a finger at him. If I had, I would have said it."
For a lighter side of Lozada, check out this exclusive video where she reveals who she would like to "Meet or Tweet."
And for more of Lozada's intimate interview with Latina, pick up the August issue of the magazine, out Tuesday, July 9.