Inside Juanita Vanoy’s Turbulent 17-year Marriage With Michael Jordan Before $168 Million Divorce

Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy (Credits: Pinterest)

Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy’s marriage is undoubtedly the most famous in NBA history. Throughout their 17-year-long marriage, controversies followed them day and night. Vanoy, being married to one of the greatest basketball players, had to constantly be in the public eye. Interestingly, this also led to them buying a $14.9 million mansion as Vanoy wanted to draw a line.

Their marriage ended in the most expensive divorce settlement and is one of the most highly publicized. Every detail of their divorce was covered by the media and garnered high TRPs.

On September 2, 1989 Michael Jordan (26) married Juanita Vanoy (30), mother of 9-month-old Jeffrey Michael, at Little White Wedding Chapel.

Vanoy had a 5-carat $ 25K diamond ring, Jordan had a 3-carat $ 15K ring.

They divorced on December 29, 2006.

📸Jet Magazine, 9/25/89 pic.twitter.com/j9QrF5ObJ9

— Vegas Visual (@vegas_visual) September 2, 2022

It is undeniable that this was a difficult time for the Jordan family. However, the messy relationship between Michael and Vanoy was already making headlines, and so on, the news of their divorce was not surprising.

How did Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy meet?

Just a year after making his debut in the NBA, Michael Jordan met Juanita. It was March 1986, when the two met at Bennigan’s restaurant in Chicago. Interestingly, Juanita went to attend a Bulls basketball game in the evening on the same day. She saw MJ from the crowd, and just a few hours later, a mutual friend introduced them. Juanita played basketball in high school and was a loan officer at the time she met Michael.

Her love for basketball and Michael’s charm likely led them to connect. The spark between the two was evident in their early days of relationship. She has been a part of Michael’s soaring career and was supportive throughout his basketball journey. Despite being present in his life for the Bulls’ victories, Vanoy refused to be a part of the docuseries ‘The Last Dance’.

Michael Jordan and Juanita Vanoy tied the knot in 1989

Michael and Juanita were a lovey-dovey couple for three years before walking down the aisle on September 19, 1989. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Michael spoke about getting married to Juanita and revealed his feelings.  In his own words, “I’m happy. It was a big move getting married”. Furthermore, Michael talked about how being married helped him be mature.

He stated, “It helped me mature”. Michael is not the only one who spoke about the maturity level after being married. Notably, Juanita who is four years older than Michael also stated, “He soon proved to me that he was mature and could deal with me at my level of maturity”.

September 02, 1989 NBA basketball star Michael Jordan (26) weds Juanita Vanoy (30) at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas #MichaelJordan #OnThisDate #PR

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— Amir Alhaj – ASM | International PR Consultant (@AmirAlhaj_ph) September 3, 2022

Even before the two got married, they found themselves in a difficult situation as their first child, Jeffrey Jordan, was born out of wedlock. This forced Michael to plead with the media so that they wouldn’t cover the news as he likely feared people’s reaction. Additionally, he was at the prime time of his career so he had to ensure that he was presented well to the fans off-court as well.

Controversies surrounding Michael Jordan during his marriage

With the fame and popularity of Michael Jordan, controversies followed him everywhere. From the start of his career and marriage until today, his name has been dragged into some of the darkest controversies. The most notable one has been his gambling habit which Michael refused to address as an addiction. Instead, MJ said that it was a “competition problem“.

Furthermore, his gambling was not restricted to himself but also forced Vanoy to interfere to pay off his gambling debts. Michael has mentioned how he was embarrassed by this, however, he did not seem to take the needed action. Notably, even at the time of his father, James Jordan’s death, people suspected that Michael’s gambling had to do something with it. There were rumors that Michael owed money to the people who killed James.

Apart from this, Michael’s cheating was a big talk of the town. There were numerous instances where this aspect came forward. It is alleged that Juanita caught Michael with 6 different women before ending the marriage. Not only this, former Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach spoke about how MJ wanted to date Madonna after she chose Scottie Pippen because of his s*x game.

Additionally, Michael was also taken to court by Pamela Smith who alleged that her son, Jay Jordan Reynolds, is fathered by His Airness. She demanded $5,000,000 for child support and medical care, however, Michael kept his silence regarding this matter. Similarly, Karla Knafel, a model, was romantically linked to Michael when he was married to Juanita. She received $250,000 from Michael to keep things private, however, she filed for another lawsuit.

What really caused Juanita Vanoy to file for divorce?

Juanita Vanoy filed a divorce from Michael Jordan for the first time in 2002. She withdrew as both of them tried to work out their issues to make their marriage work. The two finalized divorce four years later and were in the headlines throughout. Their messy marriage was not a secret, and neither were Michael’s attempts to make things right.

The Bulls‘ star robbed precious moments from Juanita even before the two walked down the aisle. The wedding which was supposed to be dreamy was done in secret because of Michael. They got married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas that too at 3:30 AM. He revealed to People magazine, “I told Juanita I was afraid that when the preacher asked if there was anyone who objected to the marriage, too many hands would go up”.

Additionally, Michael revealed, “I did say, ‘Five years from now, maybe we can do a church wedding.’ And that’s what Juanita’s banking on. She says she was robbed of those precious moments”.  Furthermore, Michael once publicly humiliated Juanita by saying that she is learning to cook and Juanita took offense to this.

During their 17-year-long wedding, Michael made numerous promises to Juanita but had a hard time staying on his words which likely led them to eventually separate. Notably, MJ tried to give up his nasty habit of gambling in order to save his marriage and promised that he would spend more time with his children.

However, none of this worked out, and with his extramarital affairs being in the headlines all the time, it likely pushed Juanita into filing for divorce. Even though neither of them has confirmed till now what led them to end their wedding, their deteriorating marriage over the years was evident.