Tiki Barber: 'I'm on a mission of redemption'

Tiki Barber: 'I'm on a mission of redemption'

Tiki Barber's public scandal last April - all those reports that surfaced saying the former NFL star was divorcing his eight-months-pregnant wife, Ginny, because of an affair with Traci Johnson, a 23-year-old NBC intern - took a toll.

"I went through and am going through a divorce, and as much as you want to put on a brave face, it gets hard. There were times ... where I didn't even want to leave my house. I was literally sitting around doing nothing. I couldn't motivate myself to do anything," he tells the New York Post today.

"When we first met, he was completely motivated. He wanted to have an influence on everything, wanted to make an impact," Johnson tells the Post. Barber was a Today contributor at the time. "And so it was a complete shock just to see him basically disintegrate."

He adds, "I'll be the first to admit, I've made mistakes. I'm not infallible. I'm not perfect," he said. "That doesn't mean I'm gonna quit and give up and be resigned to being a pariah or however people want to paint me."

Now, he's hard at work to prepare for an NFL comeback. A few months ago, he sent a text to his manager, Mark Lepselter, stating, "I'm on a mission of redemption."

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