Michael Jordan dominated the basketball court, but away from the game, his private relationship with his then-wife Juanita Vanoy Jordan was falling apart. A quickie wedding, three children, allegations of outside babies, and two divorce petitions later, everyone’s still wondering what happened to the woman who held him down during the height of his career.
Here’s what we know about Michael Jordan and Juanita and their messy marriage.
From ‘Dumbo’ to ladies man
As a high school student in North Carolina, Michael Jordan was far from being a ladies man. According to Sports Illustrated, due to his “Dumbo ears” and self-described “gooney” status, no one wanted to date him.
After enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to play basketball, he made the 1984 US Olympic team. The event took place in Los Angeles, and while there, he reportedly had a fling with the late track and field athlete Kim Gallagher. From then on, Michael had no shortage of women knocking down his door.
He won the college player of the year award in 1984, left school early, entered the NBA draft, and was selected by the Chicago Bulls. Being young, single, and handsome, his mom was terrified. According to People magazine, he had no trouble staying away from substances, but women were his weakness. To help him fight through the temptation, he told People magazine his mom became his chaperone and when she wasn’t around, one of his siblings would keep tabs on him.
In mid-1985, he was at a restaurant near Chicago when he met loan officer Juanita Vanoy. It wasn’t the first time Juanita caught an athlete’s attention. According to a book entitled The Jordan Rules by author Sam Smith, Juanita dated former Chicago Bulls player Reggie Theus prior to meeting Michael.
Michael was at a point in his career where he was used to women throwing themselves at him. Things were different with Juanita. She played it cool, and he was the one doing all the chasing. Four years younger than her, Michael was captivated by her maturity. His family approved, and they began dating and got engaged on December 31, 1986.
In 1988, Juanita found out she was pregnant. In an awkward twist, Michael refused to acknowledge they had a baby on the way. Determined to have her child financially taken care of, Juanita hired a lawyer and contemplated serving Michael with a paternity suit as soon as he walked off the basketball court. Michael had a clean image to uphold, so he asked her lawyers to contact his lawyers so they could handle things privately. According to the Chicago Tribune, he and Juanita kept dating during the negotiations, and after the November 1988 birth of their son Jeffrey, the financial discussions raged on.
A surprise wedding
To her lawyers’ surprise, Juanita called their office one day and said she and Michael were going to get married, so she needed them to draft a prenuptial agreement. Her lawyers began working on the paperwork, but instead of picking up the document and signing it, Juanita, Michael, and some friends jetted off to Las Vegas to prepare for their wedding day.
During a joint bachelor party the night before the ceremony, Michael told Juanita he was concerned that when the preacher asked if anyone objected to their marriage, his friends would raise their hands. Michael told People magazine, “I didn’t trust my buddies because they saw it as the start of another stage of my life, and they knew that would limit them.”
So after gambling and having a couple of drinks, Michael turned to Juanita and said, “If you want to do it, let’s do it now.” At 3:30 a.m. on September 2, 1989, they snuck away to the Little White Wedding Chapel. Both dressed in jeans, Michael presented Juanita with a three-carat diamond ring. Juanita didn’t have a wedding band for Michael, but that didn’t matter. They were in love.
She called her lawyers and told them the good news, and they reminded her about her unsigned prenup. She brushed it off and told them to work on a postnuptial agreement instead. As a sign of things to come, Juanita and Michael’s lawyers battled over the postnup for almost two years.
Three months after their wedding, Michael began seeing a woman named Karla Knafel. According to court docs obtained by the Chicago Tribune, Michael told Karla his marriage was nothing more than a “business arrangement” and that he considered Juanita to be the “hired help.” After their affair ended, Michael paid Karla $250,000 to keep quiet, and she did for a while.
Juanita was heard in private
Michael was painted as a loving family man in the media. He told Playboy magazine that tying the knot was a “well-timed decision.” He also said that as a married man, he was more at ease because he didn’t have to worry about catching any infections.
Getting married was like walking into the unknown. He was up for the challenge, and his competitive nature meant he was determined to make things work.
They welcomed their son Marcus in 1990, and in 1991, they finally signed their postnuptial agreement. In 1992, their daughter Jasmine was born. They settled into their life as a family of five.
In between winning three championships, his lucrative endorsements, and his friends, Juanita was feeling iced out. Michael tried to meet her demands. He told People magazine, “I’ve lost the desire to go out. But I force myself because my wife deserves that attention.”
While Juanita remained quiet in the public eye, she was reportedly very vocal behind the scenes. Michael’s friend and Washington Wizards official Fred Whitfield told the Washington Post that the only person who had any influence over Michael was Juanita. Fred added, ”She has always been the supportive wife that’s obviously heard, but heard in private.”
Juanita told Ebony magazine she was the one who always had to say no for them. She said, “If someone didn’t step up and say no, there would be no time for his family.” She said she was aware that it made her look “like a b***h”, but she was fine with that. She said, “I’m protecting what we have.”
In the book Taking to the Air by Jim Naughton, Michael admitted it was Juanita who put some much-needed space between him and the public. He said, “She is the more stern side of the relationship, and I like that.”
Maintaining their privacy became a top concern for her, especially since Michael was always hounded every time he stepped foot outside. In 1993, he opened the Michael Jordan Restaurant in Chicago. According to People magazine, the second floor of the restaurant included a private dining room that was strictly reserved for the Jordan family. Juanita told the magazine, “Now there’s a place we can always be comfortable.”
Juanita takes action
In July 1993, Michael’s father, James Jordan, lost his life during a carjacking. That fall, Michael announced he would retire to spend time with his family and grieve the loss of his dad. There were also rumors that his love for gambling had gotten out of control.
Although he was done with basketball, he immediately signed on to play minor league baseball for the Birmingham Barons. His baseball career was short-lived, and instead of stepping away from sports as he promised, he returned to the Bulls in 1995.
He won three more championships with the Bulls, and where was Juanita? Oh, she was right there by his side…collecting juicy information that would be used against him.
In 1998, Juanita hired a private investigator. According to the New York Post, Michael was spotted traveling from Chicago to Florida and back and was captured in public places with at least six different women. Juanita had all the information she needed to end things for good, but she held on.
Michael retired again in 1999. Again, he promised to devote more time to being a family man, but he just couldn’t keep still. He took a front-office job with the Washington Wizards, before becoming a minority owner of the franchise in January 2000. In 2001, he suited up and played two seasons for the Wizards. According to the Washington Post, Juanita rarely visited him in Washington and put all of her focus on raising their children back in Chicago.
Divorce #1
In 2002, after collecting four years worth of evidence from her private investigator, Juanita filed for divorce. A second private investigator named Ernie Rizzo told the Chicago Tribune he also caught Michael in some compromising positions during the past ten years. Ernie had been hired by the wives of other Bulls players. And since Michael was doing his dirt around his teammates who were under surveillance, his indiscretions with other women, including a Denver stripper, wound up in those players’ infidelity reports.
One month after Juanita filed for divorce, they reconciled. And a few months after that, Michael’s past came back to haunt him.
Karla’s return
Karla Knafel, the woman he had a fling with just months after he married Juanita, decided the $250,000 dollars in hush money he initially gave her wasn’t enough. Karla demanded $5 million dollars or she would reveal their affair to the public. Karla also had a child but later admitted the child wasn’t Michael’s.
According to the Chicago Tribune, his attorney’s filed an extortion lawsuit in October 2002, and a judge sided with him. He didn’t have to pay up and was free to move on with his life, but more trouble was on the way.
More drama
In 2004, a Pittsburgh news station reported a woman accused him of fathering her son. After taking two paternity tests, he found out he wasn’t the father. The case was closed and Michael obtained a restraining order against the woman.
Things were okay between the Jordans up until December 2006 when they mutually decided to end their marriage after 17 years. Their divorce was finalized in 2007 and Juanita was awarded a massive settlement of $168 million dollars.
Juanita moved on after buying a $4.7 million dollar home. As for Michael, he reportedly started dating Yvette Prieto sometime in 2008. They got engaged in 2011. In 2013, another woman came forward and accused him of fathering her 16-year-old son.
According to TMZ, it was later determined that the woman was lying. She was ordered to pay Michael’s court fees for wasting everyone’s time.
What’s next for Juanita?
Michael and Yvette got married in 2013 and welcomed twin girls in 2014. Juanita continued to live a low-key life up until November 2013 when she gave her first post-divorce interview to Chicago Business website. During the interview, Juanita said, “I’m in a good place.”
Following her high-profile divorce, she received an offer to appear on a reality show but turned it down. She considered opening up her own business and even got her real estate license, but being in her childrens’ lives as much as possible was more important to her. She still kept her real estate license active but devoted her entire life to helping her children through their teenage and adult years. She and Michael still talk from time to time, but it’s mostly about their kids.
Now that their children are grown, Juanita told Chicago Business she has time to explore her own hobbies, like yoga, collecting art, and traveling. She’s on the board of Reel Beauty Inc., a Chicago-based nonprofit that mentors teenage girls, and she’s also the president of her own company, Vanoy Jordan Enterprises.
She’s inspired by the personal stories of other influential women, including Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Juanita said she admires them because they went through adversity and — just like her — they didn’t come out of it unscathed but they live their lives without any bitterness.
Let us know if you’re surprised by Michael and Juanita’s story or drop us a comment on our now-viral YouTube video 😊