Once upon a time, Kris Humphries was known primarily for his talent on the basketball court — but that changed after his brief 2011 marriage to reality star Kim Kardashian.
The NBA star, 34, who announced his retirement Tuesday, got candid about how the former couple's 72-day marriage affected his career in an essay published on The Players' Tribune.
“I was playing at Madison Square Garden for the first time after my marriage ended, and I was getting booed so loud that it was crazy. I’m talking feel-it-in-your-bones booed. I wasn’t Kris Humphries anymore. I wasn’t a real person. I was That Guy," wrote the former New Jersey Nets player, who appeared several times on "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."
After dating for several months, the couple tied the knot in August 2011 in a reported $10 million wedding that E! aired as a two-part TV special.
By October 2011, Humphries' new bride had filed for divorce.
Though the athlete knows some fans saw him as a fame-seeker, he insisted his feelings for Kardashian were genuine.
"Look, I should have known what I was getting into. I was definitely naive about how much my life was going to change," he wrote. "But the one thing that really bothers me is whenever people say that my marriage was fake.
"There’s definitely a lot about that world that is not entirely real. But our actual relationship was 100% real," he added.
Humphries recalled going into a "dark place" after the couple's whirlwind marriage fell apart.
"It’s never easy to go through the embarrassment of something like that — with your friends, with your family," he wrote. "But when it plays out so publicly, in front of the world, it’s a whole other level. It was brutal."
When fans began booing him at games, he was even more crushed — and confused.
"I remember having this moment when I was getting booed so hard in Philly, and I thought to myself, 'Why exactly are they booing me, though? Is it just because I’m That Guy from TV?'" he wrote. "'Do they think I was trying to be famous? Is it because they think I disrespected the game of basketball?'
"The last one killed me, because all I’ve ever wanted to be known for was basketball," he added.
The now-retired basketball star hopes real sports lovers forget his past and instead remember him for his top-notch playing.
"I don’t want any pity at all," he wrote. "But I hope that true fans of basketball remember me as a grinder, as a guy who transformed into a heck of a rebounder, and as a guy who always tried to put the game in the best light."