Tiki Barber: I'm Broke

Former football star Tiki Barber is taking more hits in his retirement than he ever received on the field.

Publicly derided for leaving his then-eight-months-pregnant wife Ginny for 23-year-old former NBC intern Traci Lynn Johnson, Barber now claims that he is broke and can't afford a divorce settlement.

According to Page Six, Barber insists his career is in the gutter since losing his $300,000 network contract with NBC.

Barber hasn't been on the air in many months -- but sources said his contract was only formally terminated in May.

Network insiders said "Today" show bosses secretly ended their deal with Barber due to a hidden "morality clause" which specified that stars must not be involved in public scandals.

Barber has four children with his estranged wife, including newborn twins. He was reportedly banned from the delivery room while Ginny was giving birth.

Barber also canceled promotional appearances for his Flywheel cycling gyms in the wake of the scandal.

Comments

[salzy1]

09:22 AM on 08/14/2010

Having followed Tiki's career to its beginning, as a running back for the Virginia Cavaliers (he was the star on that team), I am so disappointed to see his fall from grace (a la Tiger Woods). I have met him several times, in the early days of his pro football career, and can see what fame and fortune do to a person. Tiki became too full of himself and lost his way. Where he goes from here is hard to say, since his name is mud now in the publice domain.

[mp60mp32]

08:30 PM on 08/05/2010

He had a few more years left in him to play with the Giants and he decided to leave prior to the team winning the Super bowl in the prior year. Before he left the team in his prime, he dumped on his coach and Manning. They went on to win rings and he still dumped on them. Now he can't afford his baby and alimony because he got booted from the NFL network. I hate to kick a man when he's down, but Tiki gets punted by me right now (no pun intended). If there is such a thing as Karma, he has experienced it.

Should have continued playing playing ball.

[sweetwhine]

09:38 PM on 06/27/2010

Ok so where're all the Tiki defenders from other threads? You know the men that were claiming "maybe the wife wasn't making him happy" or "maybe his wife was difficult to live with" I especially like this one, "maybe the girlfriend gives him what he needs" Well I hope she "gives" him some money because he "needs" to pay child support. What an idiot.

[holyghostie]

01:02 AM on 06/27/2010

Me-iki was that you shaking the coffee cup on the subway steps at Lex?

[FrenchWomenDont]

12:59 PM on 06/26/2010

I guess for Tiki it is better to be broke with a young girl

[Chicago48]

07:30 PM on 06/27/2010

Yep -- it's cheaper to keep her.

[SirCoolBreeze]

07:59 PM on 06/25/2010

Tiki, you know there's no dollar menu in Manhattan. You done made some some really stupid mistakes.

[Balzac]

03:28 PM on 06/25/2010

Good luck convincing his estranged wife's lawyer of that!

[Nenette]

10:16 AM on 06/25/2010

It's called Karma dude, what goes around comes around....

[PowerPridePinstripes]

11:57 PM on 06/26/2010

not so much. Its called not learning how to manage you money and then getting caught cheating with a preschooler... dumb dumb and dumb.

[sweetwhine]

09:30 PM on 06/27/2010

Yeah like she said...karma.

[Eddie Riggins]

08:35 PM on 06/24/2010

Lets not care about this guy.

[pbnyc59]

07:40 PM on 06/24/2010

Poor Tiki, didn't know the cost of cheating on your pregnant wife with your next door neighbor's kid.

[DMaven]

05:17 PM on 06/24/2010

Jack Abramoff works at a pizza parlor in Philadelphia. Just sayin'...

[sweetwhine]

09:30 PM on 06/27/2010

Thank you. Get to work.

[EastVillageNYC]

02:51 PM on 06/24/2010

Letter to Tiki,

You are not broke. You are still richer than 90% of Americans. Broke is getting an ulcer because you are afriad you can't make rent this month. Broke is eating off the dollar menu and drinking water. Broke is getting an extension from you power company. Broke is worring how you're going to feed your kids today. Broker is eating less so your kids can have more.

My dear sir by most standards you are very very well off. So can the broke crap and just say I'm cheap.

[highflag]

02:29 PM on 06/24/2010

This is the first I've heard of this story, but I feel like I'm missing something.

It's been declared "immoral" for a man to leave his wife to run off with a younger girlfriend?

I mean, I get that she was pregnant, and they have kids, but men (and even some women) have been doing this for ages. When did it become immoral?

Newt Gingrich left his cancer-stricken wife to take up with a new, younger woman. John McCain dumped his disfigured wife (and kids) who stood by him throuigh five years of captivity, to run off with a young, blond heiress.

These are all acts which show a distinct lack of character, and yet the examples I cited were considered Presidential material.

What's the difference?

[Uproar]

03:11 PM on 06/24/2010

It's always been immoral. It's not illegal, but it's immoral, because it's a cruel thing to do.

[highflag]

03:39 PM on 06/24/2010

OK, my fault. I guess I didn't express my thoughts correctly.

Of course I know it's a cruel thing to do. It makes Barber not a very nice person.

But it made my other examples equally cruel. Being a bast ard never qualified as a terminal offense in politics, why would it be so for a sports reporter?

I understand the Steve Phillips axing, because he was having an affair with an ESPN intern. But this is something that occurred totally removed from the workplace.

I guess what I'm asking is, are there other factors that contributed to his firing, or did he really lose his job just because he left his wife? Would he have received the same fate if there were no younger woman involved?

If the answer to that is "yes", then I'm a little shocked by that. I'm not endorsing his behavior, but there are literally millions of people with perfectly good jobs who dumped their spouses. Barber seems to be the victim of selective moralism to me.

[Lochness71]

03:21 PM on 06/24/2010

Immoral : not moral; broadly : conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles

Moral: of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior

I would consider what Tiki did as wrong behavior.

[Bunny007]

01:19 PM on 06/24/2010

This is what complete MORAL bankruptcy looks like----

Heck of a job, Tiki!

[Bunny007]

01:13 PM on 06/24/2010

NEWSFLASH TIKI!!

Your not only "BROKE" financially, but BROKE morally & ethically, which is a whole lot more EXPENSIVE, as NBC has just showed you---

That was one pricey piece of tail, yes?

[sweetwhine]

09:32 PM on 06/27/2010

"pricey piece of tail" Isn't it always?