When Dikembe Mutombo passed away in late September, the league mourned not just a great player but a truly wonderful human being. The former Denver Nuggets star was a man of clear morals, and was quite rigid in his stances too. No amount of coaxing would work on him once he made up his mind on something. Charles Barkley, who was a close friend of Mutombo, revealed that he was so strong-willed that he once called off his wedding, and lost $250,000 too. All because he did not want to make a compromise on a prenup agreement.
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Barkley revealed that Dikembe was set to be married in 1992 to a medical student named Michelle Roberts. He’d drawn up a prenuptial agreement which stated that in case of divorce, Roberts would get a fixed amount from his accumulated wealth rather than a percentage of it.
Barkley said that despite Mutombo’s repeated insistence over months, Roberts refused to sign the prenup. On the day of their wedding, the Hall of Famer tried and failed again. Mutombo called the wedding off. And, according to Barkley, he took Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning with him to Las Vegas to party the weekend away.
“He was supposed to get married. He told the girl, ‘You have to sign a prenup’. She’s like, ‘I’m not singing the prenup’. This like three months out for the wedding. Two months out, ‘You need to sign the prenup’, she’s like, ‘I’m not signing a prenup’. A month before the wedding, ‘I need you to sign the prenup’. She won’t sign the prenup. Day of the wedding, he walks in and says, ‘You gotta sign this prenup’. She says no. He gets Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning, they go to Vegas and party for the weekend cos she wouldn’t sign the prenup.”
The bill for the arrangements made for the wedding ran up to a quarter of a million dollars. But Mutombo was willing to write it off as well as cancel the big day, and had a very good reason for it. Dikembe grew up in poverty. And his first priority was always to ensure his family was well taken care of.
He had reasoned that without a prenup, a divorce would lead to him to lose half of his wealth. He wanted to ensure that his family would enjoy the fruits of his labor.
The familial values he embodied was one of the many reasons why Mutombo was loved so much around the league. Barkley had another level of respect for the 4x DPOY.
Barkley “never met a better person” than Mutombo
While on the Jim Jackson Show last month, Barkley spoke about Mutombo’s greatness, revealing that he deeply admired his large heart.
Mutombo had single-handedly built a hospital in his hometown, Kinshasa, in Congo. Barkley said that what set the big man’s charity work apart was that he used his own money, rather than go through an organization.
“Yeah man, that shook me up,” added Barkley. “You know I never met a better person. He built hospitals in Africa, think about that built hospitals in Africa.. To use your own money to build a hospital. Man, if that don’t make you think this dude was special, there’s something wrong with anybody. He was one of the nicest men I ever met.”
Mutombo’s passing not only affected those who knew, loved and idolized him, but also the countless lives he saved by making sure children did not succumb to curable diseases back in Congo.
