Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
I still remember the first time I heard the story of Cromartie and his kids on ‘Hard Knocks’ and thought it was crazy…and now the count goes on…Fix the scoreboard: Now it’s 10 kids from eight women in six states.
Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, 27, recently had his second child with wife Terricka, making 10 — one short of a football squad.
Their baby boy, Jagger, joins sister Jurzie — and eight half-siblings from Cromartie baby mamas across the country.
But the happy occasion is mixed with turmoil. His far-flung fatherhood has intrigued a TV production company that wants to create a reality show about the clan “trying to co-exist as a modern family,†a source told The Post.
Most of the moms want to do the show, but “Cro†says no.
The baby mamas he left behind have banded together so their kids can bond with their brothers and sisters in California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and New Jersey.
The single women can use the extra money to help raise their kids, but they also think it’s important “to document their journey,†the source said. “They want Antonio’s support.â€
Cromartie has deflected the plan, blocking any filming of his offspring.
It’s not the kind of spotlight sought by Cromartie, who famously fumbled the names of his brood on HBO’s “Hard Knocks†in 2010 — and even forgot to count one kid.
Once busy playing the field, the fertile footballer has angered his first baby mama by wresting custody of their son, Alonzo, now 7.
“He’s supposedly a role model, but he’s not doing what he should be doing as a father, or as a man,†said mom Rosemita Pierre, of Tallahassee, Fla.
Cromartie defies a court order that allows her to speak with her son three times a week, she charged.
“They don’t answer the phone,†said Pierre, who’s called the cops in Randolph, NJ, to knock on Cromartie’s door. “It’s a hurtful situation — like he’s trying to erase me.â€
Cromartie’s marketing and PR rep did not respond to questions.
Pierre, who gets no child support from Cromartie, favors the TV show because she wants her son to know all his half-siblings.
So does Ryan Ross, a hotel employee in Los Angeles, who met Cromartie at a San Diego nightclub, dated him about six months, and delivered his fifth child, son Tyler Jae, now 4.
Ross first encountered another Cromartie baby mama when she brought newborn Tyler to visit the former-San Diego Charger at his apartment. She ran into Latoya Burley, of Houston, Texas, who was there visiting with daughter Deyjah, her first of two with Cromartie.
They hit it off. Ross now stays in touch with several other Cro baby mamas.
“We’re not catty women. We have a close, tight-knit friendship and understand what each other’s going through. We reach out to share news about the kids, to talk, to vent,†she said.
As for Cromartie, she said, “We co-exist for the sake of my son.â€
Cromartie visits LA several months a year and spends time with T.J., she said, but he’s absentee once the Jet football season kicks off.
“I love it,†Ross said of the proposed TV show. “Our kids need to know who their siblings are. It’s bigger than our past with Antonio. It’s about our children.â€
Cromartie — who signed a four-year, $32 million contract last fall — pays more than $3,500 a month to each baby mama, except Pierre.
He was sacked as a womanizer and cad by Rhonda Patterson, a corporate lawyer and ex-Miss Black North Carolina. She wrote a memoir, “Love, Intercepted,†telling how Cromartie wooed her, then canceled their wedding a week before the event and dumped her six months pregnant.
Soon after, she learned Cromartie wed Terricka Cason, a model with a child from a prior relationship.
Patterson, whose daughter, London, 3, “is the joy of my life,’’ wants no more to do with the jilting Jet. “That chapter for me has completely closed — talking about Antonio, thinking about Antonio, even caring what’s going on in his personal life,†she said.
But, she added, “I wish him the best. Any time a baby is born, it’s a blessing.â€
WRITTEN BY SUSAN EDELMAN – [email protected]Â / NY POSTÂ & FULL STORY HERE
via BSO