From cheating scandals to custody disputes to even murder,
these are the pro athletes who really chose the wrong people to marry.
Retired NFL cornerback Brent Grimes enjoyed a reasonably successful football career,
which included reaching the Pro Bowl four times. Alas, his professional trajectory took a turn
for the worse thanks to the actions of his wife Miko. Brent and Miko married in 2010, when he was
on the Atlanta Falcons, but the problems really arose when he was playing for the Miami Dolphins.
Miko is a former professional basketball player herself, and she definitely wasn't
afraid to make her opinions known. Her Twitter posts were controversial, to say the least,
and they attracted the attention of the Dolphins front office. She badmouthed the
press and the players, especially Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill. She also once
got arrested before a game when she got into a verbal and physical altercation with the
police who were performing crowd control. All of this added up to bad press for the Dolphins,
and when Miko again went after Tannehill on Twitter, Brent was soon cut from the team.
"When two confident athletes live under one roof,
the competition heats up in just about everything."
In 2019, Ben Zobrist was at the top of his career. He'd recently been to three World Series in a row,
including wins in the latter two, and he was even named World Series MVP in 2016. But while
his professional life was looking up, his personal life was falling apart. In 2018,
he began to suspect that his wife Julianna was unhappy. He gave her the space that she asked for,
until spring 2019, when he learned that she was having an affair with their pastor.
The ensuing heartbreak left Ben unable to focus on his baseball career,
so he asked the Cubs for a leave of absence, which they granted. According to court records,
however, Ben's restriction cost him $8 million. He also claimed that Julianna convinced him to
return to baseball in order to maintain the lifestyle she was accustomed to. The couple
worked on their marriage in counseling while Julianna simultaneously continued her affair
behind his back. Court records also indicated that both Julianna and the pastor got rid of evidence
to affect the court ruling in her favor. Ben and Julianna have since separated. His
time in the MLB never recovered after he found out about the affair, and he retired in 2019.
If you're a fan of women's doubles tennis, chances are you know the name Gisela Dulko. The Argentine
phenom's biggest career accomplishment was probably her win at the 2011 Australian Open,
alongside her partner Flavia Pennetta. Dulko retired in 2012,
but she was still killing it in her personal life, or so she thought.
Dulko met former Real Madrid soccer player Fernando Gago in 2009,
and the two tied the knot in 2011. They welcomed three children together and
seemed to have an enviable life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Gago secured a coaching
position at a club in Argentina's top league, though he was soon let go.
One day, Dulko reportedly arrived home only to find her husband in bed with one of her
good friends. Gago was allegedly having an affair with a parent of one of their children's friends
at school. He eventually moved out of the house, and he and Dulko have since separated.
In one of the most bizarre and tragic stories in recent NBA history, Lorenzen Wright was
found shot to death in a field in Memphis, Tennessee in 2010. He'd retired a year earlier,
and he was enjoying his time off when he met his untimely death. Ten days passed
between his disappearance and when his body was found, which caused the investigation to stall.
"The person or persons responsible for that not to be brought to justice,
it just does not allow you to have any closure."
Ultimately, arrests in the case wouldn't be made until seven years later, as Lorenzen's ex-wife
Sherra and a fellow member of her church, Billy Ray Turner, were convicted of murder.
Sherra and Lorenzen grew up together and enjoyed a happy marriage with six kids. However,
all was not so happy behind the scenes. Alleged infidelity on Lorenzen's part,
to which Sherra reportedly reacted violently, eventually caused their marriage to break down.
They divorced in 2010. Although no reason for the murder has officially been released,
many believe Lorenzen's failure to provide child support motivated Sherra. She was the
beneficiary of Lorenzen's $1 million life insurance policy, and she was awarded that
money after his death. After a tip from Sherra's cousin, the police were able to
arrest her for facilitating the murder. She was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
P.J. Washington seems to have fallen into the trap that many NBA players have when it comes to love:
falling for a person who is with them for all the wrong reasons. After being selected twelfth
in the 2019 NBA Draft, Washington signed with the Charlotte Hornets for a four year,
$12 million rookie deal. The power forward would be an eligible catch for anybody,
though some fans believe his relationship with Brittany Renner wasn't totally on the up and up,
partly because she's six years older than him. The
two reportedly first met while he was playing for the University of Kentucky.
The couple ultimately ended up calling it quits, but not before Renner became
pregnant with their child. Some fans believed that Renner trapped Washington,
because they reportedly broke up two weeks after she found out she was pregnant and would allegedly
receive an extremely generous child support payment. Renner has denied the allegations
and claimed that if she really wanted to trap a baby daddy, she had more lucrative options
to choose from. And even Washington took to Twitter to ask his fans to stop lying.
"I have nothing to hide! I have nothing to lose!"
Lance Stephenson isn't the biggest NBA star, but he has enjoyed a successful
career since being drafted in 2010. He's maintained a solid presence on the court,
and his teams have made it to the playoffs on multiple occasions. But he hasn't been
able to boast the same success with his personal life. He began dating Basketball
Wives star Feby Torres in 2008, and they went on to have two children together.
Their relationship eventually fizzled out, though, and they called it quits in 2015.
Even though they weren't married, Torres received monthly child support from Stephenson to the tune
of $6,000. But she reportedly requested more, as she took him to court in an attempt to get him
to pay double that amount. Torres explained that she didn't work and needed to go back to school,
which required childcare, hence the request for an increased child support payment. Stephenson's
lawyer wasn't having it, though, as he accused Torres of not using the child support payment
for the children, and instead using it to maintain a luxurious lifestyle. Stephenson
reportedly asked Torres to withdraw the request, though the judge ended up siding with her.
Basketball is literally in Brent Barry's blood, as his father Rick Barry played on
the championship-winning Golden State Warriors in the 1970s. So it's no surprise that the younger
Barry was also able to have such a great NBA career himself. He spent 14 years in
the league and was a member of two championship teams when he played for the San Antonio Spurs.
Since retiring in 2009, he's maintained a presence with the Spurs in their front office.
In 1998, Barry married his high school sweetheart Erin, and they went on to have two children
together. However, she would soon be part of a scandal that would tear their family apart.
Another Spurs player, Tony Parker, had a high-profile relationship with actor Eva
Longoria that ended in divorce. And Erin Barry was also involved in that situation,
as she and Parker allegedly engaged in a lengthy affair together. Longoria discovered that Parker
had been cheating and then filed for divorce. While Erin was never specifically named and
has since denied having the affair, Brent nevertheless filed for divorce,
citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their separation.
"Finish cold. That's the rule. Finish cold."
To say that Michael Strahan has had a successful career would be a bit
of an understatement. He played for 15 years as a defensive end
on the New York Giants before pivoting to hosting Good Morning America and The
$100,000 Pyramid. But he hasn't been as lucky in love, having been married and divorced twice.
While Strahan's first marriage dissolved rather amicably,
his time with his second wife Jean ended in a bitter battle over property, assets,
and child custody arrangements. Although Strahan and Jean had a prenuptial agreement, that didn't
stop her from attempting to steal money from him. She reportedly transferred $3.2 million from their
joint account into an account only managed by her. She also reportedly held an unauthorized
yard sale of some of Strahan's belongings in an attempt to enact revenge against him.
Strahan and Jean also have twin daughters, and he's made some pretty serious allegations
regarding her treatment of the girls. He claimed that she wasn't taking the kids to
their court-appointed therapy sessions and was the reason they weren't attending all
of their volleyball and equestrian events. Plus, he alleged that she'd been physically
and emotionally abusing them for years, though the details of his allegations remain sealed.
Former NFL cornerback Antonio Cromartie has had an interesting time when it comes to his romantic
life. The current Texas A&M assistant coach is a father to 14 children by eight different women,
including his wife Terricka. They married in 2010 and have had six kids together.
"I have a, my daughter, who just turned three as of yesterday.
Umm, I have another son named Tyler."
They certainly seem to have their hands full now with balancing all of those kids — they
even chronicled their time together on the USA reality show The Cromarties. But their
life hasn't always been easy, and Terricka in particular has endured a bit of a rough past.
She tried to find success as a model, during which time she appeared on one episode of Wild
'N Out and three episodes of Candy Girls, a reality competition show
about models trying to get cast in a video shoot. But life wasn't always easy
for Terricka. She has a history of making bad decisions, including a violent past.
According to court records, Terricka has multiple convictions in California for domestic violence,
theft, driving without a license, and speeding. After she pleaded no contest to her domestic
violence charge, she was put on probation, but she failed to show up to numerous court hearings,
and multiple warrants were put out for her arrest. Hopefully,
she's been able to turn her life around well enough for the sake of her family.
Former NBA player Matt Barnes enjoyed a successful professional career. He was
drafted in 2002 and retired in 2017, but not before winning a championship with the
Warriors in his last year in the association. He's since become an analyst for ESPN and NBC
Sports California. However, his personal life has not mirrored his professional one,
as he's had a fairly complicated relationship with his now ex-wife.
Barnes and Gloria Govan of Basketball Wives fame met when she was just 12 years old,
and then they reconnected in 2006 and had twin boys in 2008. They eventually
tied the knot in 2013, but their union wouldn't last. Less than three years later,
they filed for divorce. Then they engaged in a dramatic custody battle.
As reported by TMZ, a judge eventually sided with Barnes, granting him sole custody with
visitation rights for Govan. Furthermore, Barnes was able to secure a restraining order against
Govan for 18 months, though this order did not extend to the children. The order was mainly
given because Barnes believed his ex could be a "physical danger" to him, as evidenced
by an altercation they had in front of their kids' school. Govan was arrested for felony child
endangerment after she prevented her children and Barnes from leaving the school grounds.
Govan has since gone on to marry Derek Fisher, Barnes' former Los Angeles Lakers teammate.