Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy met when Jordan had just entered the league in Chicago. It didn’t take long for MJ to be smitten by her and in just a couple of years the two had gone from dating to getting married in 1989. They wouldn’t wait to get married to have children either as 1988 and 1990 saw the births of Jeffrey and Marcus Jordan, respectively. In 1992, 14 years before a divorce that would cost MJ $168 million, Jordan seemed to want to cap it off with the boys while Juanita had differing opinions on the gender of their future children.
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While on the surface it seemed as though Jordan and Juanita had a solid marriage, there were cracks forming over time. Even before they had tied the knot, MJ had an odd suspicion that Jeffrey wasn’t his son and had gone through with a paternity test to check if Juanita had indulged in infidelity.
After they had gotten married, things only worsened over the years as MJ was caught having extramarital affairs on the regular.
Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy clashed on the topic of their children
Michael Jordan did quite the tell-all interview with Playboy in 1992 where he discussed everything from Sam Smith’s ‘Jordan Rules’ to his opinion on race issues across the country. Along the way, the interviewer asked MJ about the prospect of having more children.
At the time of this interview, Juanita had already delivered Jeffrey and Marcus and was pregnant with their 3rd child, the gender of which was not revealed.
“She wants all boys, I want 2 girls”: This is where their opinions differed regarding the subject. Prior to Michael making this revelation, he was asked if he wanted more kids in general.
“Not a bunch more. Maybe a couple more. She’s [Juanita] with me. But she wants all boys. I want two girls. I had two brothers and two sisters, so I want a combination of both.”
Michael and Juanita had Jasmine Jordan later that year
Michael got what he wanted. Kind of. He got his first daughter in December of 1992 in the form of Jasmine Jordan but this would be the last child he had with Juanita Vanoy. He wanted a ‘couple more’ but from 1992 to 2006, him and his wife would not conceive any more children.
They would get divorced in 2006 and a few years later, the 6x NBA champion ran into Yvette Prieto at a club in Miami. The Cuban model caught his eye almost instantaneously and they would tie the knot in 2013. They’d soon welcome twin daughters, Ysabel and Victoria.
