5 ridiculous stories related to Cristiano Ronaldo

Great fame in any walk of life can bring all kinds of problems to a person, most notably all kinds of ridiculous stories leaking out into the media. Whether or not they’re true often doesn’t matter, as newspapers and websites will literally do anything to get more people reading their content.

As the world’s most famous footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo is no exception. While his exploits on the pitch are well-documented, so are his actions off the pitch – and while he’s quite happy to sell his range of underwear and aftershave, and strut around in flashy clothes, he probably isn’t quite so happy to read some of the nonsense posted or printed about him.

Here are five classic ridiculous stories linked to the Portuguese superstar.

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#5 He does 3000 sit-ups a day to tone his abs

Ronaldo's ripped physique is honed by a lot of gym training

With his toned abs and rippling muscles, Cristiano Ronaldo’s physique is the envy of most other professional athletes, let alone the general population.

And so it’s no surprise that the man himself loves to show it off, ripping his shirt off on the pitch on multiple occasions to perform that notorious flexing celebration. But how exactly does he keep his body in such good shape?

Well, according to British tabloids in 2009, Ronaldo keeps his six-pack honed by doing 3000 sit-ups a day.

Quite where this piece of ridiculous information came from I don’t know, as anyone with knowledge of bodybuilding would be able to tell you that you get six-pack abs through low bodyfat, a good diet, cardio and a strong core – as well as good genetics – and Ronaldo clearly has all five going for him.

Unsurprisingly, the man himself laughed off this report, stating that while he trains in the gym three or four times a week, he manages perhaps 1000 sit-ups a week, nothing close to 3000 a day. Whether he actually uses that ab-sculpting belt that you see him advertising on TV however, remains a total mystery.

#4 He was in a homosexual relationship with Badr Hari

Tabloids alleged that Ronaldo and kickboxer Badr Hari were in a relationship

Despite rumours linking CR7 with numerous models and beauties over the years – as well as a couple of sleazy kiss-and-tell stories leaking out into the media – there are still people who believe that the Portuguese star is a closet homosexual.

While this is most likely nonsense driven by Ronaldo’s flamboyant dress sense and “metrosexual” grooming habits, late 2015 saw one of the most ridiculous stories yet leak into the media.

British tabloids reported via a French television show that Ronaldo was apparently in a homosexual relationship with infamous Moroccan kickboxing champion Badr Hari, who once starred in the K-1 promotion in Japan.

Granted, there’s no denying the friendship between the two – they’ve been photographed together on numerous occasions – but quite where the idea that they were in a relationship came from is a mystery – particularly given Hari is married.

Despite being called a “gay icon” in the past, Ronaldo has always stated that he’s straight and is “at ease” with his sexuality, although he was a big supporter of the legalisation of gay marriage in Portugal.

At any rate, by 2017 – when Hari was jailed for aggravated assault in the Netherlands – the tabloids gave up on the story and simply referred to the kickboxer as a “friend” of Ronaldo’s, which makes a lot more sense.

#3 He’s got a nasty nickname for Lionel Messi

It was claimed that Ronaldo had a nasty nickname for Lionel Messi

The truth behind the relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and the man who rivals him as the world’s best player, Lionel Messi, remains shrouded by rumours and questions. The two men have never truly aimed insults at one another and seem to have a healthy professional respect, even if they clearly want to out-do each other on the pitch.

In 2014, however, famous football journalist Guillem Balague reported different. In his book about Messi, he claimed that Ronaldo wouldn’t even speak his name and had instead nicknamed the Argentine star “mother*cker”, and used the same slur to describe any Real Madrid teammates seen speaking to him.

In turn, the Madrid players supposedly referred to Messi as Ronaldo’s dog or puppet.

Clearly wishing to distance himself from such a nasty report, Ronaldo vehemently denied the claims, stating that they were absolutely false, that he had the utmost respect for Messi and all of his professional colleagues, and that he was instructing his lawyers to consider suing the writers responsible for the allegation.

Whether Ronaldo actually likes Messi is a big question mark but the likelihood of him using such an unprofessional nickname is pretty ridiculous.

#2 He’s had a ton of plastic surgery

Tabloids have used before/after photos like this one to claim Ronaldo has had plastic surgery

Few people would deny that Ronaldo is one of the vainest sportsmen around right now, and he’s perhaps the vainest footballer in the history of the game.

But has he really had plastic surgery to enhance his looks? In all honesty, despite a ton of reports claiming this – some almost making him out to be football’s Michael Jackson - there’s literally no evidence to suggest he has.

One English tabloid even claimed that the Portuguese star was likely spending a whopping £3.5k a year on botox injections and had spent up to £35k to have a nose job, a hair transplant and to get his teeth corrected.

The latter is perhaps the only believable part of this – but getting orthodontic treatment is something that thousands across the world do every year and probably shouldn’t be considered “plastic surgery” as such.

So what is the evidence? Most websites reporting this show ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos of Ronaldo; usually with the ‘before’ photos being pictures of him as a teenager at Manchester United.

But surely the same could be done with any human being using photos that far apart on the time scale – after all, who doesn’t look different as an adult than they looked as a teenager? Simply put, there’s nothing concrete to suggest that CR7 has had multiple plastic surgeries.

#1 He had his lawyers pay off a rape accusation

In 2017 it was alleged that Ronaldo paid off a rape accusation back in 2009

The majority of the ridiculous stories on this list have been light-hearted, but this one certainly isn’t. It was reported in 2017 by a German publication that in 2009, Ronaldo had been accused by an American woman of rape, and that after a meeting between the lawyers of the two parties following the allegations, the accuser agreed to drop all charges against the Real Madrid star for an out-of-court payment of $375,000.

The report alleged that they knew the identity of the woman who accused Ronaldo of the crime, but she was still keeping her silence following the payoff.

They also claimed to have documents that detailed the allegation, with Ronaldo supposedly being referred to as ‘Mr. D’. Naturally, if true, this could’ve created a major storm for CR7 and his people.

It came as no surprise then when Ronaldo’s management team Gestifute stated that the article was nothing but a “piece of journalistic fiction”, claiming that the documents they had detailed did not concern Ronaldo at all, and their authenticity could not be confirmed anyway.

Given the story soon went away following the denial, it’s very likely that it was simply a ridiculous – and cruel - story in the first place designed to drum up more publicity for the German publication.