Pete Rose had a complicated life. The man nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” played harder than any baseball player before him, yet he was banned from the game for making bets behind the scenes. Rose’s death at age 83 has led many to reexamine his legacy, but this reexamination has led to some confusion over his personal life.
Rose, who was married twice, was engaged to be married at the time he passed. The woman he was engaged to, Kiana Kim, is a former Playboy model who wasn’t even born when Rose achieved 3,000 hits. An age gap of this size is bound to generate controversy, especially given Rose’s health issues in recent years.
Here’s what you need to know about the couple and their multi-year relationship.
Did Pete Rose have an affair with Kiana Kim?
Pete Rose was married to his second wife, Carol J. Woliung, from 1984 to 2011. The couple had two kids, according to ESPN.com, but Woliung filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. It was before this divorce, however, that Rose began his relationship with Kiana Kim. The pair linked up in 2009, meaning the former MLB star was cheating on his wife with Kim during the first two years they were together.
The Sun reported that Rose and Kiana Kim entered an open relationship. The former even bragged about the fact that Kim posed for Playboy during an interview with NBC Sports:
My girl has finally decided to try to shoot for Playboy, and they were kind enough to give her an opportunity to come to Houston for an interview, and we’re excited about that.
Kiana Kim eventually landed in Playboy in 2010, which is where she discussed her relationship with Rose for the first time. She dismissed the criticisms that were thrown at them regarding the age gap. Kim was 29 years old at the time, and Rose was 68. As far as Kim was concerned, however, she was happy. “When I am with him, he acts like he’s my age or younger,” she noted. “When we’re together, all we do is laugh and have fun.”
Did Kiana Kim and Pete Rose have children?
Kiana Kim and Pete Rose used their shared celebrity status to land a reality series on TLC. Pete Rose Hits & Mrs. aired for a single season in 2013 and followed the engaged couple as they navigated life as a blended family.
Pete Rose had five children from three previous relationships. One of them, Pete Rose, Jr. would follow in his namesake’s footsteps and play professional baseball. Kiana Kim, meanwhile, had two children, Cassie and Ashton, from her previous relationship. They did not have any kids together. There’s a lot of content to chronicle Rose and Kim’s romance during its first few years, but info becomes increasingly hard to come by after that.
Rose spent the last decade of his life combating health problems. New York Post reports that the Reds icon was confined to a wheelchair during his last handful of public appearances. It’s not yet been confirmed that Rose and Kim were still engaged at the time of the former’s passing, but Kim has not yet come out and denied this belief. Furthermore, they never called off their engagement during Rose’s lifetime.