As a celebrity, when you come into the limelight, things change. It’s inevitable. Sure, there are those that remain the same, don’t let fame change them. But they’re very strong individuals. The majority of those who find some level of fame, can’t help but change. That can be attributed to the industry they’re in, the pressures of life in the limelight, trying to achieve their goals. Some can be actually quite ruthless; anything, or anyone that stands in the way of them achieving their goals gets cut off, discarded. Those are some of the tough decisions a person’s got to make to reach the top.

Some may say athletes are a type of celebrity who have it even harder. The pressures of professional sport mean you’ve got to be one hundred percent focused on your goal. You can’t stray, let anyone bring you down. That’s because the life of a pro athlete is short. Stumble, falter down the wrong path, and there could be no coming back. It’s tough for athletes to resurrect a fallen career. Sometimes it’s the people who you’d least expect that prove to be a hindrance. In some cases, saying they’re a hindrance is putting it lightly. You’d expect family members, those close to you, to be by your side. You don’t expect them to wrong you. But that’s happened for one reason or another, in these athletes’ cases. They’ve been wronged by family members, so wronged that they’ve decided to cut ties with them. Some have reconciled, have built up some sort of a relationship. But these athletes have all cut ties with some family members at one point or another.

15 Aaron Rodgers

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers seems to have it all together at the moment. Things appear to be going swimmingly for him in his personal life. He’s currently in a relationship with racing driver Danica Patrick in what’s become a high-profile relationship.

His love life might be all roses at the moment. But that’s about the extent of his personal life. The rest of his personal life, his relationships, aren’t great. Aaron Rodgers has been estranged from his family for quite a while.

His brother, Jordan, revealed that Aaron and the family no longer have any type of relationship with the family. He’s cut them off. He hadn’t spoken to his family for years. They were forbidden to attend his games. They don’t have his phone number.

The Washington Post reported that his parents sent him Christmas presents. Aaron returned them. He didn’t even attend his grandfather’s funeral, who he loved dearly, because he knew other family members would be there. His brothers have said they miss Aaron. “It’s just the way he’s chosen to live his life.”

Aaron, when quizzed on the issues, has chosen not to reveal why he’s cut his family off. He’s mentioned he wants to keep the issues private. He wants to handle everything in his own way.

14 LeBron James

LeBron James is regarded to be the best player in the NBA, with some calling him the second greatest of all time behind Michael Jordan. He’s certainly one of the wealthiest. Many consider him to be one of the greatest athletes of all time, period. There’s certainly no doubting his accomplishments on the basketball court.

Due to all the money that LeBron has rolling in, due to his profile as an idol, as one of the world’s greatest athletes, LeBron has become a highly influential figure. He’s used his status for good. LeBron is a big time philanthropist. He regularly does charity for those in need. He thinks nothing of helping out those less fortunate than him. You’d think that people couldn’t turn that into a negative no matter how hard they try. But some have done just that. They say he should look after his own before he helps others. He shouldn’t look after strangers while cutting ties with his family, leaving them high and dry. LeBron has cut ties with his half-brother Aaron. In fact, they’ve never really had a relationship.

It disgusted many people when LeBron refused to help out with funeral costs when Aaron’s mom died. Is it really his prerogative to do so? Apparently, he doesn’t care about his half-brother, as LeBron wants nothing to do with his father who abandoned him as a kid, including having a relationship with his other son.

13 Hope Solo

Hope Solo’s playing days seem to be well and truly behind her. The 36-year-old USA soccer goalkeeper has been suspended and since frozen out. But that doesn’t matter to Hope. She’s got other things on her mind. Hope’s standing to become U.S. Soccer Federation president. It’s same federation that burned her. That should be an interesting state of affairs.

Hope’s no stranger to controversy. She’s certainly led one eventful life. She didn’t exactly have a steady upbringing. What she went through became engrained within her personality. It resulted in her becoming a headstrong individual. But sometimes she’s taken that persona to another level. That goes for her soccer career but also aspects of her private life. There’s been domestic issues between her and her now-husband. And Hope’s also had an episode with her half-sister and nephew. She’s cut ties with that side of the family. It’s fair to say that they don’t have the best relationship. Hope said that it was her nephew, who was 6-foot-9, 280 pounds, got into an altercation with her. She claims to have been terrified. But her sister said that Hope was lying through her teeth, that it was she who instigated everything. Both just want the ordeal to be over. They want to move on with their lives, their lives away from each other.

12 Mirjana Lucic

Mirjana Lučić-Baroni has had an up and down career. It certainly hasn’t been plain sailing. When she started out, she partnered Martina Hingis. That’s one hell of a name to be paired up with first up. She went on to enjoy a meteoric rise through the WTA ranks in the 90s. But at the turn of the century, she petered out, faded from the limelight. Her form dropped off drastically. But she ploughed on. In 2014, she won her first title in 16 years. By doing so, she set a record, becoming the woman to win WTA titles with the longest gap in-between. At the age on 36, Miriana is still going strong. Last year she cracked into the top 20 in the rankings for the first time.

There’s a major reason that contributed to Miriana’s yoyoing form over the years.

There’s a reason why she suddenly dropped off the radar during the early 2000s. Her dark decade away was due to personal problems. She claims her dad and coach at the time, Marinko, physically and mentally abused her. She claims he even stole her match winnings. During one Wimbledon, her dad also got physical with her and her mother. That was the final straw. They left their native Croatia and fled to the U.S. Understandably Miriana has cut ties with her dad.

11 CM Punk

Remember CM Punk? The guy’s faded into the wilderness. Once upon a time, if you’re a wrestling or MMA fan, you couldn’t tune in or read a publication without Punk making some kind of noise. He was a controversial figure. That was in part due to his outspoken attitude. He pulled no punches in the ring and with what came out of his mouth. He’s a guy who spoke his mind, told it how it was. That rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way. He got on a lot of people’s backs. That’s partly why he parted ways with WWE and left wrestling to embark on an MMA career. That didn’t really go according to plan. He’s been ridiculed for his stint in MMA. He’s set to continue his MMA career in Chicago on June 9^th. It’d be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets.

Love him or hate him, you’ve got to respect what Punk has done, where he’s come from. From a young age he wanted to be a wrestler. He made things happen for himself, went about putting his plan into action. He thought, when he formed a backyard wrestling federation, Lunatic Wrestling Federation, with his brother and friends, that it’d be the start of something great. It was a successful venture. It was serious business for Punk. It could have become an even greater success. But his brother, Mike, didn’t allow that to happen. According to Punk, Mike took thousands of dollars from the company. Punk parted ways with him. He couldn’t forgive his brother. Punk cut ties with Mike and hasn’t spoken to him since.

10 Lamar Odom

Lamar Odom is probably one of the highest profile basketball stars around. Sure, he was great on the court. But he’s famed in the celebrity, reality TV world too. That’s due to his association with the Kardashians. He married Khloe after what was a whirlwind romance. They got hitched and stayed married for seven years. Initially everything was roses. Due to what we saw on their reality TV show, they couldn’t have seemed any happier. They even got their own spin-off show. During his time on reality TV, we got to learn a whole lot about Lamar. He’s had a pretty tragic past. One reason for that was because of his dad, Joe Odom.

Lamar and Joe did have the odd interaction with each other on the show. Joe has spoken out for his son whilst he was enduring a tumultuous time of things in recent years. They do have some sort of a relationship now. But for a long time, they were estranged. That’s because Lamar cut ties with him. He was addicted to various substances. During this time, Lamar cut him off. During an aunt’s funeral, a time when Joe was clean, they struck up a relationship again. But it hasn’t been plain sailing. Joe’s been accused of leeching off his son. Lamar doesn’t see him as a father figure. He calls his high school basketball coach Jerry DeGregorio, his dad.

9 Nick Van Exel

Nick Van Exel is a retired pro basketball player. He played for six teams during the course of his career and went on to become an NBA All-Star. Once he called time on his playing career, he went on to become assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies. He’ll always be remembered as one of the greats of the game. A lot of celebs, a lot of people in general, despite all of their achievements, always say their greatest achievements were having kids and raising them to be good human beings. Once upon a time Nick probably said that too. But his son has soured the Van Exel family name, has sullied his image somewhat due to their association.

In 2013, Nickey who was 22 at the time, was convicted, as reported by the Dallas News. He’s currently serving a 60-year sentence. Understandably, Nick took the news hard. He said: “I'm really sorry to the Eyo family. Nobody should have to go through something like this. Nobody. When it first happened it probably haunted me for like the first two years because I knew [Eyo] so well, I knew his brother very well. He stayed at my house in the summers. I took him to the [NBA] Finals in 2006 — he and his brother — when Dallas played Miami, and I had them in Miami. For me, I look at both sides. If I was on the other side I would be upset, angry. Then I look at it like, this is my son, this is who I fathered. I didn’t raise him to be that way.”

8 Trent Richardson

Former Heisman Trophy winner Trent Richardson, currently plays in the Canadian Football League for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He previously played in the NFL. But he was a massive disappointment.

He’s considered to be the biggest bust for a running back in NFL Draft history. Perhaps his loss of form had something to do with things that were unravelling in his personal life. He was going through issues.

You’ve probably heard many tails about athletes getting rich and then having their money stolen from them by a person on their team or a dodgy accountant or financial advisor of some sort. Mike Tyson comes to mind. But it must seriously hurt when it’s your own family who’s doing the thieving, who’s taking advantage. That’s what happened in Trent Richardson’s case. In 2016, in an E:60 segment, Trent revealed his family and friends, those closest to him, blew $1.6m in 10 months. They were charging him for all sorts of things, like bottle services at clubs – it wasn’t him because he didn’t drink – things like having 11 Netflix accounts charged to him. He then looked at his bank statement and got a massive shock. He said: “I know they love me. I know they do care. But at the time, they took advantage of me." He had to cut some ties after that.

7 Tyron Smith

27-Year-old Tyron Smith is an American football offensive tackle. The success began for Tyron when he was 21. He was famously wealthy, and like most kids that age feel, felt he had the world at his feet. He hasn’t done too badly over the years, during his time in the NFL. But he’s had his fair share of personal problems. A lot of what he’s gone through can be attributed to money.

A lot of you might be thinking that Tyron like others, got wealthy quickly and blew all his cash as soon as he got it, became financially destitute. That did happen, but it wasn’t because Tyron was a careless spender. He splurged the cash but not on himself. His mom and stepdad kept asking for him to pay for this and that. Tyron didn’t have the heart to say no. He agreed that he’d buy them a house in the region on $300K. They called him one day and told him they’d found the perfect house, at $800K. That’s when Tyron started to become worried. He realized that they were taking advantage of his good will. He didn’t know what to say at that moment. He hung the phone and actually cut ties with them for a brief period. They finally had a conversation and got the message.

6 Dez Bryant

Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant hasn’t had an easy time of it over the years. Right from a young age, Dez had to contend with a lot. He didn’t exactly have the smoothest of upbringings, the most stable home environment. Despite these issues, Dez flourished and made it to the NFL.

Dez had a lot of family issues when he was younger. His mom spent many years in jail. Most people would hold that against their parents. Most would’ve cut ties with them then and there. But Dez acknowledged that what she did she did for her family, to put food on the table. He stood by his mom, saying: “The reason my mom [did that] is so we could live. She paid a hard price for it. Now she doesn't ever have to do anything like that again.” Their relationship seemed solid. But it was anything but. Despite coming out in support of his mom's past, they got into an altercation He cut ties with her for some time after that incident. They have however, reportedly reconciled.

It's good to hear that they're on good terms now, but it's seemingly going to be the kind of relationship that has its ups and downs for the rest of their lives.

5 Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Look at Floyd Mayweather’s career and it’d be hard for anybody to say that he’s not the greatest fighter who’s ever lived. Going through decades, an entire career in the ring unbeaten is no mean feat. He’s got one hell of an attitude which has resulted in plenty of people getting on his back. But Floyd can take it. He set out to create a certain image – loud, bolshie, some may say over exuberant and obnoxious – and he’s done just that and makes no apologies.

Someone who’d probably say that they had a hand in Floyd’s success, is his dad, Floyd Mayweather Sr. Both Sr and his brother, Roger, were boxers. But they have anything but a loving relationship. There’s some fierce sibling rivalry going on there.

Jr. cut ties with his dad for some time. They’ve had an on-again off-again relationship, if you can say that about father-son relationships. A lot of it has been down to pettiness and jealousy. At times, Jr. has chosen Roger to train him instead of his own dad. This caused the two elder Mayweathers to act out. There’s a ton of animosity there. Jr. cut ties with his dad and banned him from his gym at one point. They then reconciled and Sr. came back to train his son. Jr. has said he changed trainer again due to Roger’s health issues.

4 Don Mattingly

Don Mattingly is a former baseball first baseman. During his career, Don was a much-loved member of the baseball fraternity. He conducted himself in a professional classy manner and never strayed from that straight-laced attitude. It’s meant he won a lot of plaudits in the baseball world. Naturally, once his playing career ended, he stayed in the game and got into coaching. He’s currently coach and current manager of the Miami Marlins.

Don was and is just an utter gent. The same can’t be said for his son, Taylor Mattingly. From what Taylor’s done, it doesn’t seem like the two are cut from the same cloth. Don was probably thinking that too when he learned about some of Taylor’s antics.

What apparently happened, was that Taylor’s mom cancelled cable TV. Taylor wasn’t happy about that. According to reports, he flew off the rails. Things escalated over what we can all agree was a trivial matter.

Don didn’t see much of Taylor anyway since he and Taylor’s mom were divorced. He saw a lot less of him after that incident. If you want to read some more of the unsettling details about the incident, Deadspin summarized the events back in 2009.

3 Patrick Reed

Things are going swimmingly for US golfer, Patrick Reed at the moment – on the golf course that is. The pro golfer is still a rookie in comparison to his fellow golfers on tour, yet he’s still tasted a tremendous amount of success, especially when representing his home nation in various events. This year he won the green jacket by fending off competition from Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth to emerge victorious at the US Masters. There were plenty of people in his corner cheering him on at that point. His parents may have been cheering him on too. If they were they would have been doing so from afar.

Reed and his family – parents and younger sister – have been involved in a family feud for some time. It’s unclear what started the feud. But things escalated when Reed didn’t invite them to his wedding.

Reed got hitched at the age of 22 in 2012, and his parents not being invited caused an almighty rift between them all. The parents have even tried to come to some of Reed’s golfing events but were escorted away at Reed’s request. Things have gotten that serious. Reed’s cut them off, wants nothing to do with them.

2 Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is recognized as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He’s always going to be spoken about as a legend of the game. He played his entire 20-year career at the LA Lakers. That’s an achievement in itself. He retired a couple of years ago. Now he’s called time on his playing career, Kobe’s exploring other ventures.

Kobe got into basketball at a young age. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his dad, Joe Bryant, who also played in the NBA. It’s fair to assume that at that age, Kobe was eager to learn, wanted to reach the top, and so lapped everything up. But when Kobe started to become a big name, started earning millions and was spoken about as one of the greatest, things soured between Kobe, his dad, mom, and sisters too.

Most of Kobe’s beef lies with his parents. He’s cut them off and hasn’t spoken to them in years. That’s because he says they’re pushy and never satisfied. They’ve always wanted more, out of Kobe and his bank account. He’s said: “I say [to them], ‘I’m going to buy you a very nice home, and the response is ‘That’s not good enough’?” he says. “Then you’re selling my stuff?” They sold off a lot of his memorabilia such as rings and high school uniforms. They did this behind Kobe’s back.

1 Jelena Dokic

35-Year-old Jelena Dokic made her pro debut two decades ago. She had a decent career, winning WTA titles on every surface and achieving a career high ranking of four in the world. She called time on her playing career in 2014 after inconsistent form and a series of injuries. After calling time on her playing career, she’s been staying busy. Jelena has done some writing, has written a book, done some commentary and a bit of coaching too.

Jelena’s book Unbreakable discusses all aspects of her life, including the strained relationship with her dad. She suffered four years of physical and mental abuse.

Jelena’s relationship with her dad soured at the age of six. That’s when she started playing tennis. Since then Jelena has said her father did unspeakable things to her. Her dad also did things like make her sleep on the streets if she didn’t do well enough at events.

People have seen the nasty side of Jelena’s dad’s personality. He was once banned from WTA events after becoming abusive in the player’s lounge. He’s even been jailed.

Understandably Jelena doesn’t speak to her dad. He made her feel worthless and so she cut him out of her life for good.