A former teammate of Aaron Hernandez is speaking out about the late NFL star’s bizarre behavior in a lengthy new profile published by The Boston Globe.
Former Patriots receiver Brandon Lloyd tells the Globe that Hernandez was a difficult person to work with.
“There would be swings where he’d be the most hyper-masculine, aggressive individual in the room, where he’d be ready to fight somebody in fits of rage,” Lloyd recalls. “Or he’d be the most sensitive person in the room, talking about cuddling with his mother. Or he’d ask me, ‘Do you think I’m good enough to play?’”
Lloyd says he was warned about Hernandez’s erratic behavior by Wes Welker, a six-year veteran of the team.
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“He is looking at me wide-eyed. And he says, ‘I just want to warn you that [Hernandez] is going to talk about being bathed by his mother,’” Lloyd recalls. “’He’s going to have his genitalia out in front of you while you’re sitting on your stool. He’s going to talk about gay sex. Just do your best to ignore it. Even walk away.’’’
Related: Aaron Hernandez’s lawyer claims he “clearly was gay” in shocking TV special
According to the Lloyd, Hernandez often behaved erratically at practice, engaging in “child-like” and “disruptive” behavior and once threatening to “f*ck up” a teammate at training camp.
Another time he allegedly exposed his genitals to teammates while talking about “gay sex”.
Hernandez was convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013. In 2017, he killed himself in his prison cell. Shortly after his death, rumors that Hernandez had a gay jailhouse lover began swirling. His fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, has repeatedly denied the rumors.
In August, she put out a statement that read, in part:
There has been much speculation about Aaron’s sexuality since his death. I can say this: Aaron was very much a man to me. I saw no indication that he was gay or homosexual. I wish I had known how he felt, just so we could have talked about it. I wouldn’t have disowned him. I would have been supportive. I can’t fault him if he was feeling that way. When you love someone so much you just want to be there to support them. The fact that he felt he couldn’t come out to me or he couldn’t tell me these things hurts, because we had that bond. I’ve accepted that he may have been the way he was said to be, or that it may not be true. Regardless, I won’t know.
Related: Aaron Hernandez’s alleged teenage boyfriend breaks his silence: “We didn’t want people to know”
Donston
The dude had a lot of “issues”. That’s been well established by this point.
Xzamilloh
Is there some kind of documentary coming out? Now there are TWO stories about this bipolar murdering dude on here, and then using the same quote from his baby mama to pad out this nothing burger, I guess.
BillyD
The Boston Globe Spotlight team is in the midst of releasing a six part series of Hernandez and the NFL, with a different chapter released each day. So, yeah, it feels like there’s new revelations daily because there are. Below is the schedule. The last part of the series comes out on Friday the 19th.
Oct. 14: Behind the smile
Oct. 15: Lost in “The Swamp”
Oct. 16: Running for his life
Oct. 17: A killer in the huddle
Oct. 18: A room of his own
Oct. 19: A terrible thing to waste
Kieran
“Aaron was very much a man to me. I saw no indication that he was gay or homosexual.”
Are we really surprised there is a lot of confusion and ignorance about what being gay means when the term “LGBT” deliberately links gay and transexual together?
Mozo83
That age-old insult against gay men has nothing to do with transsexuals or straight people being confused, as per usual. It’s about the dated, ridiculous stereotypes of gay men and Aaron certainly lived with them, judging from the article.
Billy Budd
I am bipolar, and I can tell that the behavior described here fits perfectly with bipolar disorder.
Kangol
Aaron Hernandez suffered from severe CTE, i.e., brain damage. It was reportedly among the worst that researchers had ever seen for a person of his age. (I can’t link because Queerty no longer allows that, but below is the opening quote from a 2017 article.)
“Aaron Hernandez suffered the most severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy ever discovered in a person his age, damage that would have significantly affected his decision-making, judgment and cognition, researchers at Boston University revealed at a medical conference Thursday.
“Ann McKee, the head of BU’s CTE Center, which has studied the disease caused by repetitive brain trauma for more than a decade, called Hernandez’s brain “one of the most significant contributions to our work” because of the brain’s pristine condition and the rare opportunity to study the disease in a 27-year-old.
***
“In a diagnosis that linked one of football’s most notorious figures with the sport’s most significant health risk, doctors found Hernandez had Stage 3 CTE, which researchers had never seen in a brain younger than 46 years old, McKee said.” from “Aaron Hernandez suffered from most severe CTE ever found in a person his age,” Adam Kilgore, Washington Post, November 9, 2017.
On top of all the other things he was dealing with psychologically and his behavior in general, let’s not forget this basic fact.
Virpilosus
I did not know any of that, so thanks!
Rock-N-RollHS
Umm, don’t all players have their junk out there in the locker room? And I’m sure that talk of gay sex happens a lot; it happened in my locker room constantly. I mean, for reals, this is nothing but gossip. But whatever gets you off folk. . .
Donston
You seem to be obsessed with trying to dismiss that this dude was into dudes. He had a HS boyfriend, he confessed to his college gf that he was mostly into guys, and his own lawyer thought he was gay. That just covers the most overt “evidence”. It doesn’t even touch on the rumors about his male assistant or the “prison lover”.
Having said this, there is too much sensationalism and speculation going on. And I don’t like people thinking that being romantically and/or sexually into dudes was the biggest part of his downfall and using it for social politics. He was abused as a kid. He developed severe CTE throughout his career. He also developed some rather violent and megalomaniac instincts at a young age. His issues clearly extended way beyond orientation.
Bob LaBlah
This is over kill. The poor kid is dead. Please, gay media, let him rest in peace. Do we really need to know if he walked past his teammates in a jockstrap or bareass with a hard on (that topic has to be next)? What could he have done that we haven’t done at some time in our lives when we were younger that would be newsworthy? Ok, he had gay sex a few times and probably partied while doing it but so what? These people sound like gutter rats gnawing on rotting tennis shoes thinking there has to be some nutrition (in this case have no doubt the nutrition they seek is money) out of this.
Donston
It’s not really the “gay media”. The Boston Globe is doing a full-on expose’. They’re interviewing a ton of people and writing a book on Aaron. Plus, there was a rather eye-opening documentary on him that was released a couple months ago. So, we can’t simply blame the “gay media” for this one. It’s beyond them at this point. The “gay media” is trying to craft Aaron into this tragic queer figure who got swept up in toxic masculinity and was weighed down by the closet. That’s a narrative I don’t completely buy. However, I also don’t think hooking up with a guy for years in HS, writing to your college gf that you’re mostly into dudes and emotionally confessing to your lawyer that you’re into guys equates to merely indulging “gay sex a few times”. That stuff definitely represents a big part of who he was and what became of him. At this point trying to dismiss that just comes off as internalized homophobia or desperately trying to disconnect Aaron and his issues from the “queer community”.
karljordinson
I think he struggled with his sexuality, he seriously has a lot of issues going on it’s shame this sports guy didn’t help him instead of ignoring him or walking away. Who needs enemies when you have friends like that! The guys dead let him rest in peace!
DHT
Brandon Llyod states that people with CTE are difficult to work with, if anyone should know he should but he should be used to it.
surreal33
I am confused what f@#$%^ difference does it make if he gay or not?
If he was closet case? If he was molested? Does that absolve him for being horrible human he ultimately became?
Donston
Of course not. But most people don’t end up being paranoid, headcase killers out of the blue. There tend to be triggers throughout life. Sexual abuse, being closeted, self-hate, CTE, a toxic childhood and adulthood environment, etc. could have all contributed to the man Aaron became. Does that suddenly excuse him? No. However, mapping out these things helps highlight the importance of mental health, brain safety and helps keep the general public safe.
Brgod
So he was at least bi-sexual, don’t think its a big secret. Quite disturbing some of the some of things that have been brought to light about him (besides the murder).
mtullius
He was mentally abused by his homo-phobic father starting at a young age. This type of abuse is paramount to brain-washing. Aaron could never come to terms with his gayness, therefore, struggled with his own persona his whole life. He was never allowed to be himself, there was NO safe place for him. I have much empathy for this man. Please empathize with others who face this debilitating struggle to express themselves. If we cannot come to terms with our own identity we live in a very lonely place.