NFL rushing king Adrian Peterson is after another MVP — Most Virile Parent.
The Minnesota Vikings running back had at least five children out of wedlock and could have had as many as seven, according to one of his ex-girlfriends.
The public only knew of three of Peterson’s children, before news surfaced of a fourth, a 2-year-old son, Tyrese, who died last week after he was allegedly beaten by the mother’s current boyfriend.
Baby No. 5, who’s living with her mom in Minnesota, is a 3-month-old daughter, decked out adorably in a purple-and-gold onesie proclaiming her love for the Vikings, her fast-and-loose father’s franchise, according to TMZ.com.
Peterson, 28, has admitted that he only saw the boy for the first time after the child was in a coma.
It was unclear if Peterson has met his little fan/daughter, but the baby’s mother said she was upset over the little boy’s death.
“Today has been a long day finding out my [daughter’s] brother passed away and knowing that she never even got to meet him,” the mother, a steak-house waitress, said on her Facebook page, according to TMZ.com. The Web site said the girl’s birth certificate lists Peterson as the last name.
But another woman has come forward to say she is the mother of another Peterson child — a 4-year-old boy — and that the running back has fathered enough children to run offense on seven-on-seven drills.
“To my knowledge he takes care of them all,” Erica Syion, a former gentlemen’s-club dancer from Dallas, told TMZ, “but I only found out about the other two this week.”
Syion said Peterson pays child support but doesn’t spend as much quality time with his children as he should. “He gets my son in the summertime,” Syion said, “but he could do better.”
Sympathy for NFL’s 2012 MVP has begun to wane in the days after Ty’s death.
First, there was the revelation that Peterson had only met the child after he was beaten, after a recent paternity test confirmed that Peterson was the father.
And then there was his decision to play on in the face of tragedy.
“I’m ready to roll,” he said. “I’m focused.”
One person close to the situation said he has had enough.
“So tired of this ‘poor Adrian Peterson’ s-–t,” Bobby Ruffin, the man who raised Peterson’s son, wrote on Facebook. “Let me blow all your minds. The boy who died was my son.
“Yes, A.P., he was the biological father, but I raised him and he carried my name. Tyrese Robert Ruffin. I don’t blame A.P. for not really caring cuz him and I both found out recently who the biological father was.
“So yea this isn’t all out yet but I’m sick of the poor A.P. s-–t. He didn’t know or even meet my son. Sorry for the outburst but [put] yourself in my place.”
Joseph Robert Patterson, 27, the boyfriend of Tyrese’s mother, was charged last week with aggravated assault and aggravated battery and is being held on $750,000 cash bond.