Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time and has undoubtedly revolutionized basketball worldwide. Jordan’s skills and performance on the NBA court are well-known and are etched in history as well. However, off the court, his gambling obsession took the headlines. This not only affected him but also dragged his now ex-wife Juanita Vanoy.
Even though Jordan refused to address his scary gambling addiction, it was evident. Vanoy had to step in to clear some of his debts. She had to write several $50,000 checks to Richard Esquinas as revealed in the book ‘Michael Jordan: The Life‘.
Michael Jordan address gambling rumors before game 1 of 1993 Finals pic.twitter.com/XIWIOcxP8z
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Roland Lazenby in the book spoke about Jordan and Esquinas who were friends and business partners before things went wrong. Lazenby stated, “Esquinas’s days with Jordan, however, had come to an end. They would continue to wrangle over the golfing losses, with various estimates suggesting that Jordan paid somewhere between $200,000 and $300,000, some of it in a series of $50,000 checks written by Juanita Jordan”.
Jordan’s gambling addiction started affecting his relationship with Juanita Vanoy. In fact, he was willing to give up this habit of his to save his marriage. However, things worked out differently and the two called it quits after being married for 17 years. Their high-profile divorce made headlines for being the most expensive one.
Michael Jordan apologized to Juanita Vanoy for the embarrassment caused
In an interview with Connie Chung, Jordan candidly spoke about how he embarrassed his wife because of his gambling. He revealed how he made up for this by giving her money to spend wherever she wished to. Jordan stated, “Whatever I lost, I’ve always given it back to my wife. Whatever check I make”.
Furthermore, he revealed what he said to Juanita Vanoy, “‘ Here honey. I’m sorry for the embarrassment, I’m sorry for what I’ve caused for losing this amount of money, take it and do what you have to do with it”. However, his gambling debts started to pile up, as well as Vanoy allegedly caught him with six different women.
All of this likely led to their divorce in 2006. After this, Jordan went ahead to marry model Yvette Prieto which he kept as a secret from his ex-wife. Jordan and Prieto have been married for a decade now, and things seem to be working out well.
The two have two twin daughters together whom they keep away from the public eye. Additionally, their marriage has also been relatively away from the public. Until now, there has been no news about Prieto having to pay Jordan’s debts off as his ex-wife Juanita Vanoy did.