UFC president Dana White is sharing his regrets over a viral video of him slapping his wife, Anne White.
In January 2023, White, 54, apologized after TMZ published footage of the incident, which took place at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on December 31, 2022.
Now, the businessman is telling former NFL star Shannon Sharpe how the ordeal affected his and Anne’s three children, Dana Jr., Aidan and Savannah.
Sharpe brought up the incident on the Wednesday, June 19, episode of his “Club Shay Shay” podcast, telling White, “That had to be the toughest time that you’d ever gone through in your life.”
“It wasn’t. COVID was,” White responded. “COVID was way tougher than that.”
White then explained that his main concern through the ordeal was for his children.
“It wasn’t about getting through it publicly. It was about getting through it personally with my kids. Me and my wife are fine,” he said. “The kids had never seen that before. It was on the world stage. We embarrassed them. No kids want to see that s–t with their parents.”
White continued, “Everybody else can go f–k themselves. It had nothing to do with them. It was about my family. That’s what’s important. The people that know me and know her, they know us. We’re fine. That was something personal between me and my family.”
“I know exactly who I am. My kids know who I am. My circle of people that I give a s–t about know who I am, and that’s what mattered to me,” the MMA boss concluded.
At the time, White owned up to his actions, telling TMZ: “You’ve heard me say over the years, ‘There is never, ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman,’ and now here I am on TMZ talking about it.”
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“My wife and I have been married for almost 30 years. We’ve known each other since we were 12 years old,” he continued. “We’ve obviously been through some s—t together. We’ve got three kids.”
Anne also expressed regret for her part in the incident. “Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years. To say this is out of character for him is an understatement; nothing like this has ever happened before,” she told TMZ. “Unfortunately, we were both drinking too much on New Year’s Eve and things got out of control, on both sides. We’ve talked this through as a family and apologized to each other. I just hope people will respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.”
