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Antonio Brown, the New England Patriots’ controversial wide receiver, is the son of a man considered the best Arena Football League player in that league’s history. He is also a father with a long-time girlfriend.
He’s been accused of rape by his personal trainer Britney Taylor in a lawsuit. He denies the accusations. Brown’s family background is colorful and interesting; he had a fairly difficult childhood, and he was even homeless for a time. Antonio Brown took the field for the Patriots in his debut for the team on September 15, 2019.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Antonio Brown’s Father, Eddie Brown, Was a Star in the Arena Football League
Antonio Brown’s athleticism is clearly inherited from his dad, at least in part. Eddie Brown was a two-time league MVP in the Arena Football League.
According to ESPN, Eddie Brown “played his entire career with the Firebirds, from 1994-2000 in Albany, N.Y.” He retired in 2003.
At that time, he was “the AFL’s top career receiver for TDs with 303,” ESPN reported, adding that he set a record by scoring nine touchdowns in a single game and “had 949 career catches.”
“Eddie Brown was simply the best receiver to play Arena Football,” Chicago Rush coach and committee member Mike Hohensee told ESPN.
2. Brown’s Dad Was Known as ‘Touchdown Eddie Brown’
Today I’m celebrating my dad by partnering w/ @Toyota. Join us by sharing photos of your dad with #OneBoldChoice. http://t.co/bBcZ8EJ6Ma
Eddie Brown scored so many touchdowns in a single game – seriously, nine touchdowns is pretty crazy – that it earned him the nickname “Touchdown Eddie Brown.”
He was asked how he was able to accomplish it. According to Bleacher Report, he responded with a laugh and said, “First, they have to throw you the ball that many times.”
He added: “I just figured the quicker I could score, the quicker I could sit down,” Brown says. “Less wear and tear on my body.”
According to Bleacher Report, Eddie Brown ended up in the Arena Football League after the Phoenix Cardinals cut him in 1992. From Miami, he was a “junior college standout,” the site reported.
3. Antonio Brown Has a Long-Time Girlfriend
InstagramChelsie Kyriss
Antonio Brown is not married. However, he has a long-time girlfriend named Chelsie Kyriss.
Antonio Brown and Chelsie have three children together. Chelsie, 30, also has two older children from another relationship.
Brown brings two children from previous relationships into the blended family as well. Their relationship has been on and off. Their children are Autonomy (born in 2014); Ali the following year; and Apollo in 2017.
In between, Antonio dated Instagram model Jena Frumes, but he and Chelsie got back together.
4. Brown’s Mother, Adrianne Moss, Raised Him Until He Was a Teenager
GettyAntonio Brown
Brown’s childhood is a hard-luck story. His mom, Adrianne Moss, raised him until age 16, but he became homeless at that point.
According to an ESPN article, Adrianne and Antonio stayed behind when Eddie Brown “left to play wide receiver for Louisiana Tech.” Antonio and his brother went years without seeing their dad. His mother remarried, and he didn’t get along with her new husband. Thus, when he was 16, he briefly became homeless.
ESPN describes how Antonio “bounced among friends’ sofas, sometimes sleeping in cars. If he could scrounge up the money, he’d stay in a cheap hotel room.” According to Steelers Depot, Antonio grew “up in a dangerous Miami community that was checkered with gang activity and violence.”
Eddie explained how he worked to get to know Antonio. “I remember going onto the field after one of his games against Ball State,” he said to Indy Star. “He gave an interview after the game, then walked by me like he didn’t even know who I was”.
“But the next week, I went down to Western Michigan to watch him play again. I wanted to be accessible and ready to talk. Tony and I were finally able to have that conversation we needed to have. Once we did, and he was at a mature level to understand, it was great.”
In a 2012 interview, he indicated that he’s forgiven his mother. “That helped me to excel as a man, and probably the reason that I’m in the position that I’m at, due to the things that I went through,” he said. “It could’ve been a different story if I would’ve been raised in that house. Things could’ve went a lot different, but I think the hard road that I took was better for me. It helped me appreciate things, made me become a man earlier, and also it helped me become a great dad.”
5. Antonio Brown Is the Father to Five Children
GettyAntonio Brown’s debut with the New England Patriots will not happen in Week 1.
Antonio Brown is himself a father – five times over. In 2017, TMZ reported, he had his 5th child (the third with his girlfriend Chelsie, in addition to his two other children.)
CBS Sports recalled how one of Brown’s kids asked him, “Where’s Roethlisberger?” at the new “Hard Knocks” season premiere.
Brown explained: “We don’t play with Roethlisberger no more. We play with the Raiders. We play with Derek Carr. That’s my quarterback.”
READ NEXT: Britney Taylor’s Accusations Against Brown.