Athletic stars and trophy wives go together like peanut butter and jelly. But when things go sour, the beauty of such an elite coupling comes crashing down…and the world gets a front row seat to the madness.
Take, for instance, the recent debacle between Deion Sanders and soon-to-be ex-wife, Pilar Sanders. Deion let the Twitterverse in on the craziness of his divorce when he tweeted a photo of him and their two sons filing a police report against Pilar. Allegedly, she attacked Deion unexpectedly as the children watched. The news swarmed the ‘net, especially upon her arrest.
Although very private matters, these public figures can’t shake us from peering into their dirty laundry. Who else can take the cake for messiest divorces in the league, you ask?
Flip the page, Vixens. There are plenty….
Matt Barnes and Gloria Govan
The Good: Engaged, the two were well on their way down the aisle in 2010.
The Bad: Last October, the good times ended. After some domestic violence accusations and their relationship taken so many hits, they just couldn’t work it out, we suppose.
The Messy: The two exchanged some subtweeted e-shots, released some statements and the rest will be Basketball Wives history.
Kobe Bryant and Vanessa
The Good: The young love popped of in 2001.
The Bad: Remember that incident in Colorado? Well, the only good thing was the ring Vanessa got. Other than that, the cheating cloud loomed over the NBA superstar.
The Messy: Last year, Vanessa moved toward finalizing the divorce, and let’s just say that TMZ gobbled up the rumors. Mrs. Bryant was on-track to win a very big settlement (since no prenup was secured), but she backed out around V-Day. The couple was caught kissing on V-Day. A no-so-messy make-up, perhaps?
Dwight Howard and Royce Reed
The Good: Once upon a time, these two were happy together. The result? Baby Braylon.
The Bad: Nowadays, Royce cannot speak or even sigh about her baby’s father.
The Messy: This twosome seems to be in and out of court. Under a gag order, Royce is forbidden to speak publicly about Howard or even vaguely refer to him. She’s fighting to get the gag lifted, but what good will come out of that?
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries
The Good: They fell hopelessly in love last year and made millions off of it.
The Bad: After being married for only 72 days, the two seemed to go into a virtual war against one another. Hump aired his frustrations on Twitter. Kim? She flexed her emotions on Kim & Kourtney Take New York.
The Messy: No one truly know what happened behind the veil of their faux marriage, but Kanye West (Kim’s new beau) is telling his side of the fairtytale. Take a listen to “Way Too Cold.”
Shaunie O’Neal and Shaq O’Neal
The Good: Shaunie and her gentle giant wed in 2002. Happily, they had four children.
The Bad: The relationship had a slight hiccup in 2007, but they forged forward after a reconciliation.
The Messy: In 2010, citing irreconcilable differences and infidelity, Shaunie walked away from it all. The media even caught wind of Shaq’s alleged death threats to his ex. Now, she is the Executive Producer of Basketball Wives. She doesn’t air out any dirty laundry, but how’s having a show about the bad side of the game for payback?
Jennifer and Eric WIlliams
The Good: We never did quite see the good times between Jennifer and Eric, but there had to be some.
The Bad: Basketball Wives fans witnessed the crumbling of Jen and Eric’s marriage. Fans still rooted for the twosome since neither one wanted to take the first step in cutting ties.
The Messy: Rewind to the moment Eric threw his drink in Jennifer’s face. Messy, indeed, and quite disturbing.
Michael Strahan and Jean Strahan
The Good: They married in 1999 and had twin daughters.
The Bad: Jean threw around heavy accusations of Michael, including beating her and having gay sex.
The Messy: She proceeded to take him for millions…lots of them. The court battle was messy, but the Michael’s rebuilding.
