Cam Newton talks marriage expectations

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Cam Newton was a one-time NFL MVP, nearly led the Carolina Panthers to the franchise’s first Super Bowl title and became a pundit on a variety of sports topics.

But in recent weeks, he seems to have pivoted to being a relationship expert of sorts.

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Cam Newton during the Super Bowl LX celebrity flag football game at Moscone Center South on Feb. 7, 2026, in San Francisco. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Newton appeared on the “Talk Les Show” with Courtside Les. The two talked about marriage and relationships extensively on the podcast with Les asking the former star quarterback a few hypotheticals about having a long-term partner. She asked Newton if he would want to be married to anywhere between one and five women if it were socially acceptable.

He replied, “No.”

“It’s just emotions. I want to be around who want to be around me. So, if it’s five or six or one… I like volunteers. I don’t like hostages,” he said, clarifying that he didn’t believe marriage was a hostage situation. “I don’t think it to be anything. I like volunteers, not hostages. I want people around me who want to be around me and I want them around me.”

Newton said he was fine with never being married as long as he found his life partner.

He said he didn’t need to have a government document saying, officially, that he was married to the person he wanted to be with for the rest of his life.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton walks on the field during the Miami Dolphins game at Hard Rock Stadium on Nov. 28, 2021. (Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports)

But Les pressed him a bit. She asked whether Newton would give the woman he wanted to be with a ring even if they weren’t married and even if it was her “favorite finger.”

“What I just said, question everything – why?… Well if that’s your favorite finger when I met you, you didn’t have nothing on your finger when I met you so. It looked good then, it still looks good now,” he said.

Newton suggested that he wouldn’t want his relationship to turn into a “gift-giving contest” and if it was a sparkly ring that she wanted, and the price point didn’t matter, he would bring her to a gumball machine.

“Are we doing life together or is this a competition? So you’re basically saying if I don’t give you a ring, you’re not going to love me as much,” he said. “You can have a ring with no love and love with no ring.

“I want you to listen and play this back because this is how most women sound, ‘I just want a ring, I just want a ring, I just want a ring.’ Well, why? ‘Because of marriage, because of marriage’… Find where the ring was in the Bible.… I’m not going to be bulled into giving a gift because that’s what it sounds like. It sounds like you’re trying to corner a cat.”