MJ's parents apparently weren't in favor of his relationship with Juanita.
Tenured sportswriter and Michael Jordan's memorabilia author Roland Lazenby delved into the fractious relationship between the Chicago Bulls legend's parents and ex-wife Juanita Vanoy. In his 2014 book "Michael Jordan: The Life," Lazenby included a shocking revelation from former Nike Sports Executive Sonny Vaccaro regarding the Jordan family.
According to Vaccaro, Mike's parents had accused Vanoy of manipulating their son. Moreover, they even suspected that Vanoy used her pregnancy to leverage the NBA superstar.
"As spring became summer, Juanita Vanoy had informed Jordan that she was pregnant, which further inflamed the ire of his parents, who suggested that she had allowed the conception to happen to secure her hold on their son. It was not a happy time, Sonny Vaccaro recalled," Lazenby wrote.
Juanita has remained silent
Jordan and Vanoy were married for 17 years before they decided to part ways in 2006. As expected, the intricate details of the couple's divorce remained private, barring the whopping reported $168 million Vanoy received from the six-time NBA champion as settlement.
Since then, little has been heard and written about Vanoy. In fact, she wasn't even included in Jordan's famous ESPN documentary, "The Last Dance," which did not surprise their only daughter, Jasmine.
For Jasmine, there was no point in having her mom mentioned in a docuseries centered around her dad's legacy.
"At the end of the day, if you'd ask my mom, she lived it. There's no need to go down memory lane and bring up everything that has already happened when the proof is in the pudding," Jasmine once said.
MJ has moved on
Like his journey to NBA supremacy, Jordan's personal life has not been without its fair share of ups and downs, particularly his love life. Understandably, MJ and Vanoy’s marriage was not perfect. Needless to say, the apparent conflict that she had with Jordan's parents certainly did not help. If anything, it may have contributed to its unfortunate end.
After seven years, Jordan found a new romantic partner in Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto. In 2013, "His Airness" married Prieto, and they appeared to enjoy each other's company as husband and wife. The two have since welcomed their twin daughters, Victoria and Ysabel.
Unlike Vanoy, there wasn't any notion that implied Jordan's mom, Deloris, and Prieto weren’t seeing eye-to-eye. Or perhaps MJ has been consciously preventing the media from catching wind of his family's issues and private matters.
