Holly Robinson Peete was “ready to leave” her husband Rodney following their son’s autism diagnosis

Rodney Peete Jr. (RJ), the oldest son of actress Holly Robinson Peete and former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, is a thriving and beloved worker of the Dodgers clubhouse who has the total support of his family. But the journey for the 25-year-old, who was diagnosed with autism at age 3, hasn’t all the time been easy.

His mother opened up on a recent episode of Kelly Ripa’s podcast: “Let’s talk off camera” on how RJ’s initial autism diagnosis affected her family, noting that her husband specifically had a tough time accepting the situation.

“Rodney was on Denial Street,” the actress told Ripa, per People Magazine.

She added: “(In Rodney’s opinion) RJ was supposed to be the winner of the Heisman Trophy, and instead he got a kid who comes into the locker room and runs and spins and flaps and excites.”

The mother of 4 explained that when RJ was diagnosed, she and her husband got a “laundry list” of things he would never have the option to do. The list, she said, included that he never included his neurotypical peers in class, had no meaningful employment, never drove a automotive or said, “I love you.”

“(Rodney) couldn’t process it,” Peete noted.

Peete didn’t quit on his son – or his husband. She explained that she would highlight passages from books about their son’s condition for Rodney to read, but eventually accepted: “We weren’t on the identical page. We weren’t even in the identical state or country.

“I was completely alone,” she continued, “and I finally told him, ‘I can’t live around you because you’re sad about the baby you have.'”

Peete stated that at one point she even considered ending her marriage.

“I was ready to leave him. Did I need to do it myself? No, but he didn’t help, after which he began denying it and even people in his family couldn’t even pronounce the word ‘autism’,” he recalls.

Featured Stories

Finally she said, “I’m wearing my ‘gangsta mom’ jacket and I can’t (deal) with him.” So I told him, “I’m leaving here.”

Rodney eventually had an epiphany that put things into perspective and allowed him to change his approach to processing the diagnosis. Peete shared that in an “on the dance floor” session with RJ’s therapist, her husband noticed that his son could relate higher to the therapist than to his own father.

“It was out of pure embarrassment that (Rodney) turned the tables,” Peete said, adding: “He thought, ‘There’s no way some stranger is going to make contact with my kid, but I won’t do it.’ And that really changed him and he has been on board ever since.”

RJ continues to exceed the expectations initially set for him, including by way of employment and relationships. He has a neurotypical twin sister named Ryan, and his parents even have two other sons, Robinson (21) and Roman (18).

The couple currently co-hosts Peacock’s dating show “Queens Court.”