Hank Baskett has broken his silence about the cheating scandal that nearly cost him his marriage to reality star and former Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson, and the former NFL star is finally admitting he put himself in a "bad situation."
Baskett has been at the center of tabloid controversy for months ever since he was accused last year of having an affair with a transgender model while Wilkinson was eight months pregnant with their now
13-month old daughter Alijah, People magazine reported. The couple is also parents to 5-year-old Hank IV.
"I messed up," the former NFL star with the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles told People. "I put myself in a bad situation. And everything through me brought pain upon this family."
Though the couple has appeared on their own WeTV reality show and "Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars" since the scandal first broke, Baskett is just now giving his side of the story.
The 32-year-old told People he tried to buy marijuana off a couple smoking it outside a grocery store in April 2014. The people gave him a piece of paper with a phone number on it, and the person on the other end gave him an address, presumably where he could obtain the drug. Baskett said he later showed up to a home and, after using the restroom, was confronted by two transgender woman kissing. One of them fondled him over his basketball shorts before he left. He insists he did not have sex with either woman.
One of the transgender women, Ava Sabrina London, told a
different story though, according to the New York Daily News. She claims that Baskett tracked her down via social media after finding a modeling video on YouTube, and then offered her $500 to "get intimate" for about 20 minutes. She agrees that the two did not have sex, the Daily News noted.
"Hank absolutely knew that I was a transsexual and he told me that I was the only transsexual he's ever been with," London said of her relationship with Baskett. "He thought I was beautiful."
Baskett told People that was so embarrassed by the incident that he could not open up to family and friends about what happened, including Wilkinson.
"I was this big former football player," Baskett told People. "I was the alpha male. I could do anything to protect my family but I couldn't protect myself."
Wilkinson initially kicked Baskett out of the home and flushed her wedding ring down the toilet when news broke about the incident, but eventually reconciled with her husband, People wrote.
"Hank was very naïve and gullible," Wilkinson told the magazine. "He thinks everybody is his friend. That led him to the hell that we've lived."