Former Power actress La La Anthony opened up about what led to her marriage downfall with her ex-husband Carmelo Anthony on an episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast.
In a recent episode of Call Her Daddy, titled “La La Anthony: Life After Professional Athletes,” the actress discussed what contributed to her and Carmelo’s downfall.
After the podcast’s host Alex Cooper asked if it was hard for La La to have a lot of attention at the beginning of Carmelo’s career as an NBA player.
“Yeah, that was hard for us,” the TV personality responded. “I feel like when we moved to New York, ’cause we came from Denver at the time. We moved to New York…I’m from New York, so being back in New York is nothing new, but when we lived here under all of that, that’s when things became complicated. I think that was kind of the start now that I look back; that was kind of the start of the demise of the marriage.”
Cooper and La La then talked about the baggage of being a major athlete in a major city like New York because of the scrutiny athletes face in the publicity and tabloids.
Per a Sis2Sis report, La La and Carmelo separated in 2017 after he was accused of cheating on the actress and having another child with another woman. In Cooper’s podcast, La La stated that she knew that athletes, especially basketball players, have a cheating reputation. But during her appearance on The Angie Martinez Show, she said she was surprised that Carmelo cheated on her despite many people telling her it was likely to happen.
“I was aware of it, but when it kind of happened to me in the way it did, I was surprised because that wasn’t our relationship,” she said on the show. “I was aware of it. We talked through things. I’m like, ‘Be careful out here.'”
The Think Like A Man actress also talked about how she had trouble sleeping whenever her ex-husband traveled to cities deemed problematic because of cheating opportunities. But she had no trouble sleeping when he was in “boring” towns like Lexington, Kentucky. She was wrong.
“I used to think like certain cities. I’ll be like, ‘Oh, those are the problem cities’ like Miami, I’d be like, ‘Oh, I’m definitely not sleeping tonight’ or ‘I’m going to figure out a way to get there.’ But here’s what I found out, dear. Be careful with these other cities that you think don’t have as much going on because those are the ones, guys, where the s**t is going down.”
She said it didn’t apply to every relationship, bringing up her friends, NFL player Russell Wilson and singer Ciara, who are happily married.
“I can’t generalize everyone. I’m just talking about what I went through and people I know, but I’m sure there are great relationships,” she stated. “I mean, my best friend is married to an athlete, and they have, Ciara and Russell, an incredible bond, something I’ve never seen before. I’m so happy to even witness it because it makes me feel like, ‘Oh, wow, that type of love does exist.’ I didn’t think it did for a long time.”
Cooper asked La La if she thought there was a culture of “turning a blind eye” when it came to spouses or boyfriends cheating in the sports industry, to which La La replied that when she discovered Carmelo cheating, her initial instinct was to address the situation since she had herself and her son to worry about amid the rumors.
On the topic of women informing other women of their cheating partners, La La said it’s beneficial and harmful. While there are people who have good intentions, others want to see public relationships fail.
“I think we’re getting to the point now where there’s too much access,” La La stated. “Everyone has something to say about everything. Everyone feels like they can be anywhere. They can see anything like I don’t need to know everything. That’s my point like I don’t need to know everything. I’m not dumb; I’m not naive…what I’m supposed to see, I’ll find out, but I’m just going to keep living my days, enjoying my life.”
She continued, “I don’t like feeling on edge. I don’t like the feeling of like, ‘Oh my god, okay…what are they saying.’ I can’t do that. I’ll be a nervous wreck. I don’t want to feel like that.”
LaLa also revealed on the podcast that she met Carmelo when he was 19 and she was 22. Around that time, LaLa knew she never wanted to be with an athlete.
“Should’ve listened to myself back then,” she mumbled.
Despite their relationship ending badly, La La said it wasn’t all bad, and they’re still great friends and co-parenting their son Kiyan.
