Lisa Beth Judd's romance with NBA star Dennis Rodman survived his marriage to another woman, then came to an abrupt end when she learned he had herpes.
Judd, 24, is suing the basketball player for unspecified damages, claiming that Rodman, whom she'd dated since April 1991, gave her herpes on Jan. 14, 1993, when he came to Atlanta as a member of the Detroit Pistons.The former Atlanta Hawks cheerleader told a federal jury Tuesday that she was so impressed by Rodman that she kept a memento box filled with souvenirs of their time together: plane tickets, ticket stubs and cards.
Judd, who now lives in Orange County, Calif., described herself in testimony as a trusting young woman who never asked Rodman if he dated other women and believed him when he told her he did not have a sexually transmitted disease.
"He was sweet. He was a gentleman. He was a kind person," she said of Rodman.
She was shocked to learn that he got married in the fall of 1991, and agreed to see him again only when he told her he had separated from his wife, she said.
"I thought he was special. I thought our relationship was special," she said, saying Rodman was the only one of her sexual partners with whom she never used a condom.
But she admitted that she had never asked Rodman whether he continued to see other women. Her lawyers claim Rodman, now with the San Antonio Spurs, had given herpes to two other women shortly before he transmitted it to her.
Rodman's attorneys say there is no evidence he has ever had herpes in transmittable form and no medical evidence that the women who say he gave it to them have the disease.
In a videotaped deposition shown to the jury Tuesday, Rodman said he had tested negative for herpes in 1988, but was diagnosed with the virus in March 1993. He said he took the test after another girlfriend accused him of giving her herpes.
Judd testified that the same Rodman girlfriend, who testified anonymously Monday on videotape, called her in January 1993 about Rodman. When she learned that she had herpes, Judd said,"I felt angry, I felt sad, I felt hurt."
Judd said she had previously asked Rodman about his sexual history, and he told her that he was tested for the NBA and was clean.
She said she believed him because "I didn't think he'd do anything to hurt me."
She said she last spoke to Rodman shortly before she was diagnosed with herpes. Rodman called and asked her if they had sex the previous month, and when she answered no, hung up the phone, Judd testified.
In direct testimony, Rodman offered confusing and contradictory statements about whether he had the disease. He claimed his doctor told him he had a "bacterial infection." He added: "Before March, I didn't know I had herpes because there were no visible marks . . . I've never had an eruption at all."