DeAndre Hopkins’ mother has recounted the terrifying acid attack in 2002 that rendered her blind, expressing that she thought she was facing death during the incident.
The wide receiver’s mother, Sabrina Greenlee, spoke about the traumatic event in the new ESPN docuseries ‘The Kingdom’, which delves deeply into the Chiefs’ dynasty. Hopkins played most of the last season in Kansas City following his trade there.
During the fifth episode of the series, which the Daily Mail previewed ahead of its release on August 14, Greenlee recounted the day 23 years ago that started with her noticing her car was missing.
Greenlee soon got a call from her boyfriend at the time, who gave her the address of a home to get the car back.
Arriving there, an argument ensued before another woman emerged and hurled what Greenlee referred to as a ‘concoction’ onto her body, striking her face, neck, and back, which resulted in severe burns.
ESPN wrote in a 2019 story about Hopkins and Greenlee that she was doused with a mixture of bleach and lye.
‘The skin instantly falls off of my body,’ Greenlee recalled in ‘The Kingdom.’
DeAndre Hopkins is seen celebrating with his mother and grandmother after winning the AFC Championship
NFL star Hopkins and his mother, Sabrina Greenlee, have an extremely close bond
‘In that moment, I was thinking this is how I’m going to literally die.’
Greenlee, who raised Hopkins and his three siblings alone after their father’s death in a car accident, shared that she spent about a month in a coma before eventually waking up and had to relearn to walk.
And Hopkins, who was only 10 at the time, can still remember what it was like seeing his mom after the attack.
‘The day I finally got to see my mom with my siblings after she returned from the hospital, her whole face was bandaged,’ Hopkins shared in the docuseries. ‘And I just remember how different her eyes looked.’
Greenlee also recalled a somber moment in which she and her kids sat in bed and cried: ‘We just didn’t understand why somebody would wanna do that to somebody,’ she recalled.
Greenlee’s attacker, Savannah Carlita Grant, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assault and battery with intent to kill. The boyfriend was not charged.
‘We just really didn’t wanna leave her side, I guess we felt like if we could be around her and protect her – we didn’t wanna let her go,’ Hopkins added.
Despite being just 10 years old, Hopkins ‘became the man of the house,’ his mother said.
‘He’d read to me, describe what’s on the television. And it’s like if he’s not giving up, how dare I. I sat my children down and I said ‘This doesn’t define us.”
Of course, Hopkins has gone on to have a stellar career in football, racking up five Pro Bowls, three All-Pro selections and the second-most receiving yards in Texans’ history.
Greenlee has been a huge supporter of her son throughout his stellar NFL career
She said Hopkins became the ‘man of the house’ following her acid injury when he was just 10
Hopkins spent most of last season with the Chiefs after being traded there from Tennessee
Last season, after being traded to the Chiefs from Tennessee, he had the chance to compete in the Super Bowl after his squad defeated the Bills in a memorable AFC Championship Game.
And the moment brought Greenlee to tears for a much happier reason.
‘This is so big,’ she said on the field after the game. ‘You understand like, with you playing in the Super Bowl, you have put so much time and work in. So many sacrifices in your playing.
‘Nobody understands what that feels like, baby. I saw you [play] for two years and then I couldn’t see you no more. But you kept going.’
Hopkins and the Chiefs ultimately lost in the Super Bowl to the Eagles, and he departed the team this offseason for the Ravens.
His connection with his mother, though, remains incredibly touching.
‘I visualize everything that he does,’ she said. ‘The dreads, the body movement,’ she previously told ESPN.
And he said: ‘I’m always picturing her, whenever I make a catch, her reaction. ‘And sometimes, when I drop a ball, I’m like, ‘Darn it. I let my mama down.”
