World famous writer and director Quentin Tarantino appeared on NPR’s “Fresh Air” earlier this week to discuss the opening of his new movie, “Django Unchained.” The film, which stars Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, follows the journey of a slave-turned-bounty hunter who is out to rescue his wife from a Mississippi planation owner.
In talking about the movie, Tarantino got into how African-American culture was a part of his life growing up. In fact, he claimed his mother dated Wilt Chamberlain in the 1970s.
“Black culture is my culture growing up,” Tarantino explained. “Yeah, it was almost like a sitcom the way we lived in the ’70s. She was in her 20s, she was hot, alright, she was a hot white girl and her best friend named Jackie was a hot black girl and her other best friend, Lillian, was a hot Mexican girl. And they lived in this swinging singles apartment with me.
“It was the ’70s. I lived with these three hip single ladies, all always going out on dates all the time, dating football players and basketball players … my mom dated Wilt Chamberlain. She was one of the thousand.”
The entire audio is available here. The host then asked Tarantino if it affected his sense of sexuality, knowing that his mother and her friends were engaging in sexual activity basically right under his nose. Unsurprisingly, Tarantino said he was perfectly cool with it and that it was fun always having the boyfriends try to win him over by buying him footballs and taking him places.
If it were any pro basketball player other than Wilt, it may come as a surprise that a famous director’s mother dated him. With how many women Chamberlain has allegedly been with, interesting tales of his sexual endeavors are not tough to come by. After all, let’s not forget what Kobe Bryant said about Wilt’s skills.
Thanks to Off the Bench for the transcription
