Barry Bonds’ former mistress testified Monday that the slugger blamed a 1999 elbow injury on steroid use.
Kimberly Bell said that she asked Bonds about the problem with his left elbow, which she described as “a big lump … it looked awful.”
She testified that Bonds responded by saying his steroid use caused the injury, because the muscle and tendons grew too fast for the joint to handle.
She also said that Bonds talked about the widespread use of steroids among baseball players.
“He mentioned that other players do it and that’s how they got ahead, that’s how they achieved,” Bell testified.
Bonds is accused of four counts of making false statements and one of obstruction for telling a federal grand jury in 2003 that he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.
Bell said she and Bonds met on July 3, 1994, and attended a barbecue that day. From there, they shared a nine-year romantic relationship that continued even after Bonds married another woman in 1999.
She further testified that Bonds’ sexual performance declined in the later years of their relationship. She said that his testicles changed shape and shrank. Bell also testified that Bonds grew — and shaved — chest hair and developed acne on his back.
“He was increasingly aggressive, irritable, agitated and very impatient,” said Bell, dressed conservatively in a gray jacket and white shirt.
Bell testified that Bonds verbally abused her starting in 1999, threatening “to cut my head off and leave me in a ditch.” Bell alleged that Bonds threatened that “he would cut out my breast implants because he paid for them.”
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