Carmen Electra Says She Ended Her Relationship with Dennis Rodman After Reading a Self-Help Book While Duo Were ‘Crazy in Love’

NEED TO KNOW

• Carmen Electra is opening up about her relationship with Dennis Rodman

• The actress and model married the former NBA player in 1998. They filed annulment papers nine days later, then reconciled before ultimately divorcing in 1999

• As she shares in a new interview, they were “crazy in love”

Carmen Electra is opening up about why her relationship with Dennis Rodman ultimately did not last.

In a Tuesday, May 26 appearance on the Legally Goff podcast, Electra, 54, described her relationship with the former NBA player as “difficult,” adding that the two were “crazy in love.”

The two met in 1998, married that November and, as PEOPLE reported, filed annulment papers nine days later.

The couple later reconciled, although they eventually divorced in the spring of 1999.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Rodman, she added, “was always like the pied piper of the party.”

“You know, everyone followed Dennis,” she said.

Electra added: “We had a lot of fun together. That was my favorite part of being around Dennis. But, you know, we only get to see the part of Dennis that the the media lets us see, right?”

Electra added that Rodman was sensitive and also “so loving, and then he’s wild and he’s drinking.” The relationship ultimately ended, she said, because “it was just too hard to continue to keep up with him and his friends.”

“I mean, it was constant drinking. And I just remember looking at myself in the mirror. I was at home and I didn’t recognize myself. I had bags under my eyes. My face was puffy. And I’m in my 20s, you know, and I thought like, it’s got to stop. It has to stop,” she said.

She continued: “And a friend gave me a really good book and it was like a self-help book and I started reading the book and I liked it. So I went to the store … and I’d grab another book and I’d start sitting there and I just thought, ‘I got to get away from him because what good is going to come out of this,’ you know?”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“I mean, it was real love,” Electra added. “It wasn’t a made-up story. It wasn’t a publicity stunt. It was real love. And you know, it’s sad, but it had to end.”

Electra went on to marry guitarist Dave Navarro in 2003 and the two announced their separation in 2006, finalizing their divorce in 2007. Their relationship was documented on the reality show Till Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave, which aired on MTV for one season in 2004.

Read the original article on People