‘Michael Jordan paid $168 million to his wife because of Madonna and Scottie Pippen‘: How the Bulls legend’s scandalous adventures cost him a record amount of money to his ex-wife

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan may have been second t0 none on the basketball court, but off of it, Madonna seemed to have her eyes set on Scottie Pippen.

Jordan’s legacy has already been spoken about plenty as his 6-0 Finals record remains to be the golden standard everyone compares anyone to.

However, we never hear much about Jordan’s personal life, namely his love life. Jordan is currently married to Yvette Prieto (since 2013), but before her, he was married to Juanita Vanoy for 17 years (1989-2006) after their relationship went mysteriously sour.

What exactly happened? Well, the whole story isn’t clear entirely, but we definitely know that Jordan used to be an adventurous man back in the 90s. That, and the fact that pop queen Madonna’s relationship with Scottie Pippen may have at least partially contributed to their downfall.

How? Well, Jordan may have been slightly jealous of his teammate being able to bag the most popular pop icon back then despite being married. Jordan was also reportedly cheating on Vanoy, and all of it culminating may have led to the record breaking divorce.

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Michael Jordan had to pay $168 million to his wife after being jealous of Scottie Pippen and Madonna

Reportedly, Jordan used to be wildly jealous of the fact that Pippen was able to spend time with the pop icon, and he even apparently repeatedly asked Madonna out to prove a point.

Jordan felt he could satisfy Madonna better than Pippen, but the ‘Queen of Pop’ denied this emphatically. She’d also rub salt in the wound by picking up Pippen in a limo decked out with a hot tub whenever the Bulls were in LA.

These claims along with all the other reports of Jordan being a player must have added up for Vaony, eventually leading to her calling for a divorce. There was even an incident in 2002 when Karla Knafel demanded that Jordan owed her $5 million.

Why? Well, apparently she was promised that much money to keep quiet about her and Jordan’s affair and that she was carrying MJ’s child. That fact was later proven to be false, but Jordan did admit to paying her $250,000 to keep their affair in the early 90s quiet.

After meeting each other in 1984 and marrying in 1989, Jordan and Vanoy had built what seemed like a fundamentally strong relationship. However, it wasn’t meant to last, and when the couple divorced in 2006, Vanoy was paid $168 million in the settlement, a record for a sports figure.

Details of the settlement never went public, and the couple never talked ill about each other behind the scenes, but that kind of money is still obscene and makes you wonder a little bit.

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Post Edited By: Ashish Priyadarshi
Chicago Bulls Michael Jordan NBA Scottie Pippen

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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