Scottie Pippen flew under the radar during his incredible 17-season career in the NBA. The six-time champion was inducted into the Hall of Fame and he’s even an Olympic gold medalist. On the court, he was known as Michael Jordan’s right-hand man, but away from the game, Scottie’s life was full of non-stop drama.
Here’s the truth about Scottie Pippen’s messy love life, which includes eight kids and four baby mamas!
Two-timing
According to Sports Illustrated, as the youngest of 12 children growing up in the small town of Hamburg Arkansas, Scottie decided early on that he was destined for greatness. He told the magazine, “I always felt I would be rich.”
He joined the Chicago Bulls in 1987. After moving to the city, he met a woman named Cheyvette Valentine. According to The Blast, Cheyvette traveled to Scottie’s away games to watch him play. She spent a lot of money on hotels, transportation, gas, food, and parking, but she apparently didn’t care at the time.
Little did she know, there was another woman in the picture, a Central Arkansas student named Karen McCollum. The same year Cheyvette met Scottie, Karen gave birth to Scottie’s first child, Antron Pippen. Cheyvette grew suspicious. She told The Blast she noticed cases of baby formula in Scottie’s house. When she asked him about it, he told her they were for his sister.
One night, on Valentine’s Day 1988, Cheyvette said Scottie came clean during an act of intimacy. Not only did he confirm he was a dad, but he revealed he and Karen had gotten married in 1988. Scottie and Karen divorced in 1990, and Cheyvette continued to date him up until 1993. The same year he and Cheyvette went their separate ways, Scottie found out he was expecting twins with a model named Sonya Roby.
A sad loss
According to the Associated Press, Sonya (pictured above) gave birth to twins Taylor and Tyler Pippen on July 20, 1994, making Scottie a father of three. But sadly, the Chicago Tribune reports that baby Tyler passed away just nine days later.
Questions regarding the paternity of baby Taylor were eventually brought into question. In October 1994, Scottie reportedly took a paternity test and the results concluded he was the father. However, he reportedly refused to take responsibility for the little girl. A long and drawn-out court battle would soon follow.
Domestic & paternity disputes
Scottie was back in the dating world and met a woman named Yvette DeLeone (pictured above). They got engaged, and Yvette gave birth to their daughter Sierra Pippen in February 1995. Three months later, on the night after the Bulls were eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Orlando Magic, Scottie and Yvette got into an argument.
According to Sports Illustrated, Yvette accused Scottie of grabbing her and pushing her. The cops were called, and Scottie was locked up. He posted a $100 dollar bond and the charges were dropped after Yvette refused to testify against him. There was no saving their relationship, though. The Chicago Tribune reported they broke up shortly after the incident.
Three days after getting locked up, it was time for Scottie to take financial responsibility for his daughter Taylor Pippen, who was conceived with model Sonya Roby. According to the Associated Press, Scottie was ordered to pay Sonya $10,000 dollars to cover her hospital fees. Sonya also asked for $11,500 a month in child support. According to Sonya’s lawyers, they believed her daughter deserved a lifestyle equivalent to that of the daughter Scottie had with Yvette DeLeone.
The case was finally settled with a private trust agreement, an education and welfare fund, and an order to establish a parent-child relationship. Scottie also agreed to put Taylor on his NBA health insurance policy.
In December 1995, Scottie was back in court again after Yvette DeLeone demanded child support to take care of their daughter. She was awarded $5,000 per month in temporary support until the case was resolved in July 1996. Scottie’s lawyer told the Associated Press the settlement was large enough to cover Sierra’s college tuition one day.
A new love
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Scottie said it wasn’t strange having three kids who were growing up without him. He said, “I really only deal with two of my kids–Antron and Sierra,” although he admitted he didn’t get to see Sierra often. As for Taylor, the daughter he had with Sonya Roby, Scottie said he and Sonya were never even in a relationship. He added, “It was a big mistake I made. I can’t go back and undo it, but I have to move on.”
And he moved on alright. He reportedly began dating college graduate, model and aspiring actress Larsa Younan sometime around 1995. Larsa told Sports Illustrated she was hesitant to give him a chance since he was an athlete. After meeting, they saw each other every day for the first week and a half, and she finally realized he was different from what she expected. Larsa said, “He’s very family-oriented, loves his mom, loves his siblings, is a good person, religious, and he’s from the South. That makes a difference.”
Rushing to the altar
They dated for three months before getting engaged. They got married in 1997 when Larsa was 22 and Scottie was 31. Scottie was finally at peace. Larsa told Hollywood Unlocked she took control of his entire life. She handled all of their businesses and all of their real estate transactions. Scottie didn’t even know which bank they used. He trusted Larsa completely.
Ronnie Martin, his former teammate at Central Arkansas University, told Sports Illustrated, that every day, Scottie would say out loud just how much he loved Larsa. He even bought a boat and named it “My Larsa” in honor of his wife.
Their first son, Scottie Pippen, Jr., was born in 2000, followed by Preston in 2004. Scottie announced his retirement from basketball that same year.
They had two more children, Justin in 2007, and their daughter Sophia was born in 2009, making Scottie a father of seven living children.
Living separate lives
Larsa told Hollywood Unlocked Scottie started to feel restless after retiring from basketball. So he bought a house in his home state of Arkansas and started spending a lot of time away from their family. He popped up occasionally when Larsa was chosen to appear in The Real Housewives of Miami in 2011. Entertainment Weekly reports that after one season, she was cut from the cast.
In 2012, Chicago Splash reported the Pippen family made the move back to Chicago as a unit. Scottie took a position as a senior advisor for the Bulls, and he and Larsa became active in the city’s charity scene. Everything seemed to be going great for them or so we thought.
By 2015, Larsa told Hollywood Unlocked that Scottie was gone with the wind. They were essentially living separate lives and she let him be free to do his own thing while she took care of their kids. In the spring of that same year, she got a tattoo on her wrist with the word “love.” She showed it to Scottie and told him, “Dude, I give you so much love but where the f**k are you?”
In the summer of 2016, it was apparent things were going downhill. According to the Chicago Tribune, they put their Chicago mansion on the market for $3.1 million dollars, a sign that a split was imminent.
Larsa & Future
One month later, Larsa reportedly met the rapper Future at a party in Miami and they started spending a lot of time together. She told Hollywood Unlocked they were just friends and they were able to lean on each other during times in need.
A source close to Scottie and Larsa told TMZ Larsa was flying around in Future’s private jet and had joined him on various trips to Las Vegas and Miami. The insider stated Larsa only started hanging out with Future after she witnessed Scottie openly flirting with an actress. Either way, Scottie was fed up and things were about to get even worse.
Domestic disturbances
According to the Daily Mail, after suspecting she was having an affair, Scottie had Larsa followed by a private investigator. We assume he was satisfied with the information he received, but things started to get real interesting in the Pippen household.
On October 2, 2016, Fort Lauderdale police officers responded to their home and found Larsa waiting in her car in front of the house. According to TMZ, Larsa told the authorities she and Scottie were involved in a “heated verbal argument.” But she insisted things never got physical. Scottie told the police Larsa could come back inside the house and he promised there would be no issues. He even offered to leave the residence if it made Larsa feel more comfortable. In the end, Larsa reportedly decided to leave the home and stay somewhere else that night.
Two days later, Larsa called the cops again after another intense argument. No arrests were made.
A divorce filing
On October 18, 2016, Scottie filed for divorce. His attorney told People magazine it was a “very difficult time” for the retired basketball player. However, an insider told the Daily Mail Scottie had already moved on and was romantically involved with a Sports Illustrated model. An insider said Scottie was trying to paint Larsa as a loose woman and a bad mom. The source added that Scottie allegedly told Larsa he would spend his last dollar to make her life “a living hell.”
A source spilled to Page Six about all of the couple’s marital issues. Larsa was reportedly upset about Scottie’s desire to stay in Chicago permanently for his new gig as an ESPN analyst because she preferred to live in Florida.
There were also rumors that tension started to build after Scottie took another woman to an NBA playoff game. And then there were the rumors that Scottie hated Larsa’s closest friendships with celebrities, like Kourtney and Kim Kardashian. An insider said that Scottie despised that lifestyle and preferred to play golf and stay low-key.
A brief reconciliation
Despite all the drama, Larsa’s rep was sure they would reconcile. However, Larsa was still spending time with Future after Scottie filed for divorce. Future even taunted Scottie at one point by posting the words “she mines now” on his Snapchat.
Nothing could keep Scottie and Larsa apart though. Scottie withdrew his divorce petition in November 2017, but it wouldn’t last. By November 2018, their marriage was over.
Sources reported the couple didn’t have a prenup. And while they worked to settle their divorce, someone from Scottie’s past popped back up on the scene
Cheyvette’s return
Scottie Pippen’s messy love life got even messier when Cheyvette Valentine popped back up on the scene. You remember her, right? She was the woman Scottie dated at the start of his career. In July 2019, she decided it was time for him to pay up.
Cheyvette filed a suit, demanding $9,999 dollars in damages — which was the maximum amount allowed in small claims. According to court docs obtained by The Blast, Cheyvette said she racked up a lot of charges during their relationship, which lasted from 1987 through 1993. Scottie had promised he would reimburse her, and since he never paid up, she decided to let the court handle it.
As of this video, Cheyvette’s suit and Scottie and Larsa’s divorce are still pending. We do have some good news to report. Scottie had a change of heart with Taylor, the daughter he shares with Sonya Roby. A picture of Taylor standing next to a Scottie statue is the only photo she has of her dad on her Instagram, but the comment he left on her picture confirms he has finally welcomed her into his life.
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