Kelsey Plum and Darren Waller (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Former NFL tight end Darren Waller has broken his silence on his highly-publicized divorce from Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum.

Darren Waller and Kelsey Plum divorced after only one year of marriage. They tied the knot in March 2023 but formally filed for divorce 13 months later. Several weeks later, Waller announced his retirement from football.

Their marriage was one of the most notable ones involving a pair of professional athletes. Waller was often spotted supporting his wife and the Las Vegas Aces at their home games in Sin City

Speaking on Power 105.1’s “The Breakfast Club” show, Waller went in-depth about his divorce from Plum. The former Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders fan favorite explained that he lost himself during their marriage, making the divorce the necessary for both parties:

“You talk about get honest or die lying, you kinda got to look at yourself and realize, alright, what role am I playing that all the relationships in my life have always had the same patterns.

It kinda plays into everything else I was mentioning earlier, the co-dependency aspect like, any time I’m in a relationship, I feel like I gotta dance or do a certain thing to keep this person around, almost tying my self-worth to the success of a relationship, and you realize how much you lose yourself and doing the things that you love and things that take care of you on a daily basis. Making this person kind of like the center of your universe and how unhealthy that is for everybody involved.

Realizing that and realizing the impact that it was having on me, as far as making decisions that were authentic for the life that I wanted, these are things that I couldn’t say 100 percent yes to. You have certain conversations and realize there’s so much life ahead of both of us, might as well just go ahead and live it and move on and no type of hostility.”

The Georgia Tech product was drafted in the sixth round (204th overall) by the Baltimore Ravens in 2015. He landed with the Raiders late in the 2018 season and emerged as a star in 2019 after overcoming a series of personal off-the-field issues.

In 2019, Darren Waller racked up 90 receptions for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns. A year later, he earned his only Pro Bowl nod after catching 107 passes for 1,196 yards and nine touchdowns (all career highs).

Injuries Quickly Derailed Darren Waller’s Career

Unfortunately, string of injuries prevented Waller from retaining that superstar-like form we saw in 2019 and 2020.

Waller missed six games in 2021 and eight games in 2022, totaling just five touchdown receptions over that period. He was traded to the New York Giants last offseason, but injuries limited Waller to only 12 game appearances.

Waller caught 52 passes for 552 yards and one touchdown with the Giants, who had the league’s third-worst scoring offense in 2023 (15.6 points per game). Waller cited a lost passion for football as his reason for retiring at the age of 31.