Herschel Walker: Essential Facts About The Former Athlete

The following article includes allegations of domestic abuse.

Senate hopeful Herschel Walker was first introduced to the world as a rising college football star, who won the Heisman trophy in 1982, became a three-time All-American, and was later appointed to the college football Hall of Fame. The time he spent as a running back at the University of Georgia became contentious, however, after he later lied about his college career. "All of sudden I started going to the library, getting books, standing in front of a mirror reading to myself," Walker declared in a 2017 motivational speech, recalling his alleged academic progress. "So that Herschel, that all the kids said was retarded, become valedictorian of his class. Graduated University of Georgia in the top 1% of his class." 

Despite his inspirational story, the athlete didn't graduate with extraordinary grades (a 1982 article reports that he managed a B average.) In fact, he didn't graduate at all. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, Walker left during his junior year to start playing professional football, although he later claimed otherwise on his website while running for the Georgia Senate. "There is not a single voter in Georgia who believes that whether Herschel graduated at the 'top of his class' or as Valedictorian 40 years ago has any bearing on his ability to be a great United States Senator," his communications director told CNN after the story broke.

Keep reading to find out more about the former football player and how his scandals are making waves in the world of politics.

When Herschel Walker left the University of Georgia and went professional, it seemed like he was poised to become one of football's next great players. After starting out with the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League, he joined the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and earned Pro Bowl honors. He appeared to be living up to his potential — until his team traded Walker to the Vikings in exchange for five players in 1989, leading to a winning streak for the Cowboys and a major downturn for the Vikings.

The lopsided deal had been negotiated by Vikings general manager Mike Lynn, as former teammate Steve Jordan told NFL Media. "When you look at it in retrospect, it seems like he was just inept," he reflected. Before the trade, the Vikings had their sights set on a Super Bowl. But after they sent their five players to the Cowboys (David Howard, Jesse Solomon, Darrin Nelson, Issiac Holt, and Alex Stewart) as well as offered several draft picks, the tide turned as the Cowboys started their own winning streak. "We were in a great position, just poised for a lot of success. And it all kind of came crumbling down," Jordan continued, adding that the team's resentment had been clear from Walker's first week. "That trade set us back in a negative position for a number of years."

Herschel Walker branched out into different sports outside of his career in the NFL. While he was still a Minnesota Viking, the football player decided to try out for the American bobsledding team in the 1992 Winter Olympics. He was allowed to join once the Vikings had failed to make the playoffs, as The New York Times reported, since coach Jim Hickey was wowed by his athleticism and dedication. "He brought a desire to win," Hickey explained. "It was something he conveyed in meetings. The guys were very attentive to what he had to say." Walker became the brakeman on the United States team opposite teammate Brian Shimer, and the pair finished 7th in the Albertville games.

Even after his years as a football player came to an end, Walker's competitive spirit led him to explore the world of MMA. At age 49, he began an intense training camp at the American Kickboxing Academy ahead of his first match in January 2010. "I wouldn't have gotten into this if I didn't know I could do it," the former NFL star insisted. "I can fight." He won a few vicious matches against much younger fighters, even though his family reportedly worried about the violence. "This is the toughest thing I've ever done," Walker told CNN, explaining the importance of putting in the work. "I think that's the reason I'm in better shape than I've ever been in."

The public glimpsed a darker side of Herschel Walker in 2001 when Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, his wife of 19 years, filed for divorce over his "physically abusive and extremely threatening behavior," per AP News. Walker had allegedly threatened his ex-wife by holding a gun to her head and saying he would kill her. He later blamed his abusive behavior on an "alter" and told CNN that he had no memory of incidents like choking Grossman due to his dissociative identity disorder, a diagnosis he received after having murderous thoughts in 2001.

"The logical side of me knew that what I was thinking of doing to this man — murdering him for messing up my schedule — wasn't a viable alternative," Walker wrote in a memoir about his mental illness. "But another side of me was so angry that all I could think was how satisfying it would feel to step out of the car, pull out the gun, slip off the safety, and squeeze the trigger." After seeing a "SMILE. JESUS LOVES YOU" bumper sticker, he decided to seek help instead. But as his ex-wife attested, his violent behavior didn't stop.

In 2005, Grossman was granted a restraining order against Walker after her sister testified that he had stated "unequivocally that he was going to shoot my sister Cindy and her [new] boyfriend in the head," as AP News reported. A judge also decided to temporarily ban Walker from owning guns.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

As a loyal supporter of Donald Trump, who appointed him to a government position in the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition in 2018, Herschel Walker stuck by the former president in the wake of the 2020 election. Despite Joe Biden's win, Walker insisted that there had been voter fraud across the country and tweeted that "America needs a total cleansing" from all the corruption. "I can guarantee you, Joe Biden didn't get 50 million people voting for him. But yet people think that he's won this election," the former football player claimed on Fox News, despite evidence that Biden rightfully won over 81 million votes.

Even after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Walker refused to distance himself from the conspiracy theories. He actually doubled down by insisting that the Capitol attack was orchestrated by Biden supporters to distract from the election fraud, tweeting a picture of the insurrectionists and suggesting that Donald Trump should "find out who these people are as they do not look like MAGA!" Although there was no truth to his claims, Walker insisted that the former president would "see who they really are and to get to the bottom of who stole this election" if he prosecuted the rioters in the picture.

Herschel Walker has been open about his conservative views and support of the Republican party for years: he endorsed GOP candidates Jack Kingston in 2014 and Brian Kemp in 2018. So perhaps it wasn't surprising when he decided to throw his hat into the contentious Georgia Senate race in 2021, running against Raphael Warnock, the Democrat senator who helped turn Georgia blue in 2020. "Our country is at a crossroads, and I can't sit on the sidelines anymore," said Walker. "In the United States Senate, I will stand up for conservative values and get our country moving in the right direction."

Walker has made some baffling comments during his political campaign, like this evaluation of the Green New Deal: "Since we don't control the air, our good air decided to float over to China's bad air, so when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move." He added that once China's air filled America's supply, the U.S. was now obligated to clean the air back up. His opinions on school shootings have also caused confusion. After 19 children and two teachers tragically died at Robb Elementary School, Walker commented that he was supporting "a department that can look at young men that's looking at women that's looking at social media" as a solution, rather than gun control. "Cain killed Abel," he stated on Fox News. "You know, and that's a problem that we have."

One of the most confusing parts of Herschel Walker's campaign has been his inconsistent personal life. Although he had only ever publicly acknowledged Christian, his son with wife Cindy DeAngelis Grossman, the Daily Beast revealed in June 2022 that he had another estranged son whose mother had to sue Walker for child support. After this revelation, the Daily Beast found another son and a daughter. And The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that even his closest allies had been blindsided by the appearance of three previously unacknowledged children.

In response to the confusion, Walker confirmed that he did have three sons and one daughter, but denied that he had ever hidden any of his children. "They're not 'undisclosed' — they're my kids," he insisted, claiming that he had left them out of the spotlight to protect them from media scrutiny. "I just chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign. What parent would want their child involved in garbage, gutter politics like this?" the former NFL star asked, adding that it was ridiculous to suggest that he had covered up their existence to win the Senate seat.

Walker has been vocally critical of fathers who leave their children to be raised in single-mother households, particularly in the Black community. "I want to apologize to the African-American community, because the fatherless home is a major, major problem," he declared in one interview, expressing gratitude that he had grown up with both parents.

As a conservative candidate, Herschel Walker has staunchly opposed abortion in all cases, even rape or incest. "There's no exception in my mind," he told reporters in August 2022, explaining why he supported controversial anti-abortion proposals. "Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life."

These statements started to seem hypocritical, however, after it was reported that Walker had allegedly paid for a girlfriend's abortion in 2009 and tried to cover it up. After the woman in question came forward, The Daily Beast and The New York Times confirmed that she had shown them a check for $700 and a "get well" card, both from Walker. She also revealed that she was the mother of one of Walker's children, per NBC, and her texts showed that she had been in contact with Walker's wife, Julie Walker, for years.

The Senate hopeful refused to admit that he was a hypocrite over the issue of abortion, however. "I know this is untrue. I know it's untrue, and they keep telling me things like that, and it's totally, totally untrue," Walker announced on the "Hugh Hewitt Show," completely denying the story. "I know nothing about any woman having an abortion. And they can keep coming at me like that, and they're doing it because they want to distract people." He later admitted to NBC that he might have sent the woman some money, but insisted that it wouldn't have been for an abortion.

After Herschel Walker's abortion scandal made headlines across the country, his son Christian Walker decided to weigh in. Christian, who is a conservative social media personality and has gained hundreds of thousands of followers by sharing his controversial views about Pride and Black Lives Matter, publicly accused his father of being a hypocrite.

"You're not a 'family man' when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence," Christian tweeted, seemingly outraged by his father's decision to campaign as a protector of conservative family values. "Every family member of Herschel Walker asked him not to run for office, because we all knew (some of) his past," he added. The influencer also pointed out the irony of Herschel's politics in light of his public scandals on Instagram, claiming that he had put up with his father's lies for too long. "He has four kids, four different women, wasn't in the house raising one of them," Christian declared, accusing Herschel of being repeatedly dishonest about his mother, Cindy DeAngelis Grossman.

When reporters asked Herschel about his son's criticism, he insisted that he loved Christian. "He's a great little man. I love him to death. And you know what, I will always love him, no matter what my son says," Walker said, according to CNN.