The wild life of Odell Beckham Jr.: Kim Kardashian’s new beau is one of the NFL’s most polarizing figures… from mocking Donald Trump and getting kicked off a flight – to winning a Super Bowl ring with the Los Angeles Rams

Has Kim Kardashian finally found love in boyfriend Odell Beckham Jr.? Can the Baltimore Ravens star ditch his off-the-field antics to win another Super Bowl? And has the NFL stumbled upon its next power couple after the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift saga of 2023?

No, these aren’t consequential issues facing the American public. But still, millions will inevitably follow what promises to dominate tabloid and sports page headlines until they break up or get married, whichever gets more clicks.

After all, Beckham is easily among the most polarizing figures in America’s most popular sport.

Take 2017 in Philadelphia, when he celebrated a touchdown for the New York Giants by pretending to be a urinating canine in the Eagles’ end zone. The gesture was undeniably vulgar, but it ignited further uproar when Beckham revealed it was directed at Donald Trump for using ‘son of a b****’ to describe players kneeling in protest during the anthem.

Beckham received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the time and was later fined $12,154 by the league, not to mention the criticism he received on sports talk and political radio. But for all of the controversy, Beckham only regretted the 15-yard penalty (‘that’s really it,’ he said at the time), and his loyal fans seem to embrace his rebellious streak.

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Odell Beckham Jr. just finished his first season with the Ravens – and it could be his last

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Odell Beckham Jr. is seen walking in front of Kim Kardashian a day before Super Bowl LVIII

Beckham celebrates a touchdown in 2017 by imitating a dog urinating in the Eagles’ end zoneAnd there’s an intriguing epilogue to the story: Beckham and fellow LSU alum Joe Burrow approached Trump at a UFC event in April of 2023 and appeared to have a friendly exchange with the equally polarizing former President.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Kardashian-Beckham romance, you’re not completely oblivious. The couple has apparently been keeping things quiet, which makes sense seeing as they both have children to consider: Kardashian has four with her ex, Kanye West, while Beckham has a son with his former partner, Lauren Wood.

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Beckham and Burrow greet Trump in 2023

Kardashian, 43, and Beckham, 31, have been dating for five months, according to USWeekly, which explains the secrecy around their relationship by writing that he is ‘much more private’ than the famously public reality television star.

Beckham, who was rumored to be dating Kim’s sister Khloe in 2016, has been seen with the eldest Kardashian sister at a number of public gatherings (Super Bowl LVIII, Jay-Z’s pre-Grammy party, etc.) but the extent of their relationship remains unclear.

And as was the case with Swifties and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Kelce, there is a growing curiosity by Kardashian’s fan base about Beckham, a generational talent who won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams two years ago and has earned nearly $100 million in NFL salary.

Since then, Beckham has battled a career-threatening knee injury, signed in Baltimore, and was booted off an airplane in just one of several off-the-field incidents that have come to define his career.

Beckham is hardly the only NFL connection for Kardashian, who previously dated running back Reggie Bush and wide receiver Miles Austin,

More famously, Kardashian’s late father, Robert, was a close friend and attorney for controversial NFL legend OJ Simpson. Meanwhile, her mother, Kris, was a close confidant of Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, who was found stabbed to death in 1994 along with waiter Ronald Goldman.

And although Simpson was found not guilty at the double murder trial in Los Angeles, Kris claimed in 2015 that Nicole previously confided that the Hall of Famer was ‘going to kill’ her and ‘get away with it.’

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Odell Beckham Jr., Lauren Wood, and Zydn Beckham at The 2022 ESPYS in Los Angeles

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North West, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Saint West are seen in Midtown in 2019

By contrast, Beckham’s upbringing was far more conventional, although nearly as noteworthy.

The New Orleans native was blessed to have two athletic parents: A father, Odell Sr., who played running back at LSU and a mother, Heather Van Norman, who was a track star for the Tigers and nearly made the US Olympic team before giving birth to the future NFL star.

Van Norman would later marry another sprinter, Olympic gold medalist Derek Mills, with whom she shares a child: Odell’s half-sister, Jasmyne Mills.

In addition to his football-obsessed father, both Van Norman and Mills worked as track coaches, which would provide the basis for young Odell’s budding athletic career. (Beckham famously gets critiqued on his running form by both his mother and stepfather)

Attending the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans – the same institution that produced Beckham’s future teammate Eli Manning – the lightening-fast talent excelled at basketball, track, football and even soccer.

In fact, he was offered a chance to try out for the national junior soccer program, but balked on the opportunity because he didn’t want the requisite international travel to interfere with his other athletic pursuits.

Ultimately Beckham settled on football and followed in his parents’ footsteps to LSU, where he became a First Team All-American in 2013.

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Beckham removes his helmet and draws a penalty after scoring a touchdown in 2016

The following spring, the New York Giants made Beckham the 12th pick of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Other receivers, such as Texas A&M product Mike Evans and Clemson’s Sammy Watkins, got more attention heading into their rookie seasons in Tampa and Buffalo, respectively. But Beckham would ultimately win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year thanks to 91 catches on the season.

One grab in particular – a touchdown reception against the rival Dallas Cowboys – was described by NBC commentator and retired NFL receiver Cris Collinsworth as ‘maybe the greatest catch I’ve ever seen in my life.’

The backwards-falling Beckham managed to haul in the pass from Manning with one hand while absorbing contact from Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr, who was flagged for pass interference on the play.

The Giants declined the penalty and Beckham quickly became an overnight sensation.

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The greatest catch in NFL history? This one-handed grab by Beckham makes a great case

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Beckham absorbed defensive pass interference on the play, but still made the touchdown grab

He would make three consecutive Pro Bowl teams from 2014 to 2016, occasionally running afoul of Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, who famously detested the kinds of distractions that seemed to follow Beckham.

In 2015, he got into a fight against Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, and the following season, a frustrated Beckham was seen slamming his helmet into the kicker’s practice net, which came tumbling down onto him.

But it wasn’t until 2016 that Beckham caused a national controversy by making a late-season trip to Miami before a wildcard matchup with the Green Bay Packers – a scene that was crystalized in a viral photo of shirtless Giants receivers relaxing aboard a yacht along the Florida coast.

Amid fans’ concerns that Beckham and his teammates were unfocused, the Giants suffered a 38-13 loss to the Packers. Exacerbating matters for Beckham was the fact that he caught only 4 of 11 passes thrown his way for just 28 yards.

Afterwards, a frustrated Beckham reportedly punched a hole in the locker room wall.

‘There’s no excuses,’ Giants receiver Sterling Shepard told the 2nd Wind podcast in January. ‘It was what it was; we didn’t play good. And we knew we were gonna catch heat for that. And we did.’

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The infamous boat photo: Giants receivers, including Beckham, are seen taking some time off in Miami before a playoff game against the Packers, which they would ultimately lose, 38-13

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ESPN reported Beckham banged his head against a locker and punched a wall in early 2017

A year later, Beckham found himself in another scandal when footage of him and Parisian model Laura Cuenca went viral, showing the two sitting around a suspicious white substance.

However, Beckham was never directly accused of using cocaine by any witness, and Cuenca later told the New York Daily News that the receiver wasn’t taking drugs in her presence.

Regardless, Beckham was traded to Cleveland following the 2018 season for star safety Jabrill Peppers, offensive guard Kevin Zeitler, and the Browns’ first- and third-round picks in the 2019 NFL draft.

From there, Beckham’s antics began to rankle more and more fans.

First he wore a $190,000 Richard Mille watch in his 2019 debut with the Browns. And later that month, he got into another on-field fight – this time with Baltimore cornerback Marlon Humphrey.

By Week 16 of his first season in Cleveland, Beckham was seen throwing his helmet and arguing with then-Browns coach Freddie Kitchens on the sideline.