Odell Beckham Jr. on Living in Drake’s House and His Next Big Rivalry

"There weren’t a lot of people who, so to say, had my back during that game, that’s for sure,” he claims. “In my opinion.”

You mean on your side?

He nods. “Their team was up, 35–7. And I’m competitive. I don’t like to lose. We’re sitting there, and people are thinking about what we’re doing after the game.”

These last remarks, it’s safe to assume, will not go over well in New York. And yet only minutes later, he’ll speak of embracing a leadership role and, in the midst of an almost messianic vision of the coming season, he’ll praise the teammates he just criticized: “I get these weird divine feelings. They’re, like, so strong I can’t shake them. When I think about Super Bowl 51”—as in, the next one—“I think about the guys that we have. It almost makes me sick to my stomach because I know that it’s going to happen. I’m saying it now, and it’s weird. And then it comes the time, and it’s like, ‘Wow. This is really happening.’ ”

It’s hard to know what to make of Beckham in moments like these. Some people, even some Giants fans, will see a prima donna due for a comeuppance; others will see a merciless competitor who maybe thinks out loud too much. For what it’s worth, Beckham’s tone throughout our conversation is focused and intense, not petulant, and the message is clear: Either you’re helping him get where he wants to go, or you’re getting in his way.


Jacket, $995, by Rag & Bone / Suit, $1,190, shirt, $250 ,sneakers ,$395 by Rag & Bone / Bracelets from left Caputo & Co. David Yurman

Odell Beckham Jr.’s spring residency at Drake’s house wasn’t all tranquil self-actualization by the poolside. There were also some parties and socializing. At one of these backyard soirees, Drake was there, along with other famous people, including professional famous person Khloé Kardashian.

Khloé and Odell had first met in passing just a few days earlier at 1OAK in Las Vegas, but this time, a few photos of them chatting at Drake’s house leaked to TMZ, and as everyone knows, two famous people chatting in two different geographic locations within a confined period of time means they are having vigorous sexual intercourse. The photos are actually kind of hilarious: There are four of them, and Odell, seated on a countertop, never moves; Khloé starts out facing him, and with each frame she slowly rotates, like a rotisserie chicken, until her resplendent bottom is perched in Odell’s lap, his left hand glued to his own knee, studiously nottouching her. Taken as a series, she looks thirsty, he looks comatose. But whatever! In a blink, Odell went from someone Khloé had just met to the cover of Life & Stylemagazine, where he was pictured as one of five potential fathers of her unborn (and almost certainly nonexistent) child.


Sweater, $1,500, by Hermès / Pants, $2,050, by Hermès / Necklaces, from top Tiffany & Co. David Yurman / Bracelets Cartier (top left) Mateo New York (bottom) Miansai (right) rings, from left David Yurman John Hardy watch Cartier


Turtleneck, $495, pants $295, by Michael Kors

It was yet another example, Beckham says wearily, of people trading on his name, making some easy money by leaking some meaningless photos. “Whoever was there taking the pictures inside of a private party, inside of a private-er, private-er area of the house—we were in the kitchen of the house, where there was only like 15 people. It’s just kind of like…‘dating’? I just met this person. This is maybe the second conversation we’ve had.”

So: Beckham was not, is not, dating Khloé Kardashian—but the rumors did fuck him up with a girl he was seeing. “Things go like that,” he says ruefully, “and then some other girl that I may have been talking to hears about it, and now it’s more drama, more commotion in my life. And I’m sitting here trying to explain my situation to somebody, and it’s really not even a situation.”

When you live at Drake’s house, you wind up living in a Drake song. But now vacation is over. Football is almost here, and Odell Beckham Jr. has history to rewrite.

Devin Gordon is GQ’s executive editor.


Hoodie, $185, sweatpants, $185, OBJ for Twenty at Bloomingdale’s / Necklace by Miansai bracelets, from left Tiffany & Co. Cartier

 

Not saying he is unattractive...not at all. Nonetheless, he just isn't my type...not at all.

 

Everything aint for everybody. He has enough thirst from everyone else, he doesn't need my salivations.