How Stephen Curry and Ayesha Curry Managed to Keep Their Enviable Marriage Alive
After a couple of years of futility, the Golden State Warriors are back in the NBA playoffs. When Stephen Curry’s on-court performance faltered, his family was always there to support him.
“To the love of my life, Happy Valentine’s Day!” His wife of ten years, Ayesha Curry, penned a letter earlier this year to commemorate their marriage. I’m in love with you, sweetie. “You’re the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best of the best.” On his part, the NBA star said, “My woman, always and forever! There isn’t a day when you don’t astound me. “
And the three parents have spent a lot of time together, thriving in the spotlight that has destroyed so many other relationships.
“I was 23 when we married; she was 22,” Steph, now 34, told Parents magazine in 2016. However, I was confident that I had discovered the right woman and that I wanted to begin a life with her.
Given all of the basketball spouses who are no longer or never were wives of NBA players, as well as all of the turmoil that seems to cling to NBA players’ personal lives like lint, the heartwarming story of the longtime sweethearts is one to savor.
As long as you first get one thing straight.
John Shearer/WireImage
In 2016, Ayesha told ABC News’ Robin Roberts, “I don’t want to label myself a basketball wife.” I prefer to tell people that I’m just a young woman who happened to marry a basketball player. And I don’t believe he would consider himself a basketball player. He’s a young man of God who has been placed in a fantastic situation to do what he loves, which is play basketball. “
And, while she has no qualms about calling a foul when she sees one, Ayesha, who has created a reputation for herself in the cooking, restaurant, fashion, and lifestyle realms, joyfully stressed to ABC News in 2018 that she is first and foremost a “mom and wife.” “Those are the two most essential titles,” says the author. “I mean, I don’t think my spouse would call himself ‘chef’s wife,'” she said, explaining why she didn’t say “NBA wife.”
That one made her laugh out loud.
They met when they were 14 and 15 years old and were both members of the same church youth group in Charlotte, North Carolina. But it was said that the future star of the Warriors was too shy to ask Ayesha out, and dating wasn’t allowed in high school.
Ayesha, whose family moved to Charlotte from Toronto when she was 14, told Parents, “We often chuckle that we were both focused on God.”
Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images
In October 2017, Ayesha told E! News’ Jason Kennedy, “He’s actually one of the first individuals I laid eyes on when I got to the States.” “I didn’t say anything to him.” “They made fun of me because they said he looked like a relative,” she stated after telling her sisters she’d seen a gorgeous guy. With a shake of her head, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation. Which I don’t think is true, but everyone else seems to believe it! I’m not sure if it’s because we’re on the same wavelength. “
Steph Curry, the older brother of the Brooklyn Nets’ Seth Curry, went on to play basketball for Davidson College, where he was a two-time Southern Conference Men’s Player of the Year in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and appeared in three consecutive NCAA playoffs. In 2008, he saw Ayesha again in Los Angeles for the ESPYs. She had moved there to pursue acting.
“That was just sorta fate right there, two kids from Charlotte meeting again in L.A. on a whim,” Steph remarked in 2016 on Graham Bensinger’s In Depth show.
Ayesha had a slightly different take on their re-meet-cute…
“I thought we were just friends up until I was 19, and I thought we were just friends,” Ayesha admitted to E!, adding that she did escape Steph’s initial kiss attempt. I was thrilled when I understood halfway through the dive that he had other feelings—I didn’t think we had those feelings… Oh, he came all the way in, and I was like, “Wait, what?””—she took a step back. “It was in the middle of a conversation, and it was quite…” she said, shaking her head. “However, we got a second chance!”
They did share their first kiss eventually, in the driveway of her parents’ home in North Carolina. A few years later, Steph proposed in the same area.
Steph told her parents, “It was like The Notebook.” “Acting as if we were going to a family cookout was the goal. As we approached the house, I came to a halt in the middle of the driveway, knelt down, and began my spiel. I had no idea my entire family was watching out the window, filming the event.
They married on July 30, 2011, and found out they were expecting a child a few months later. Ayesha told parents that she “struggled with that for a while” because she was still figuring out her next career step at the time. When Steph was drafted by the Warriors in 2009 and signed a four-year deal said to be worth $12.7 million, they moved to the Bay Area.
They wouldn’t have it any other way when Riley Curry, the future queen of the NBA press conference and the focus of her father’s eye, was born on July 19, 2012—”Riley came so fast I nearly didn’t have time to get my scrubs on,” Steph told Bensinger.
Having a baby “Everything is put into perspective. I’ve never had a bad day in my life, “said the athlete. “That used to be my world when I went home, knowing I had a wife and daughter to spend life with… especially with basketball and having it as a career.” That was the end of it. Now, certainly, I get irritated when things don’t go your way [on the court], but there’s nothing more satisfying when I come home…I have no idea what I used to do with my free time. “
Ayesha’s next career move was to develop her own lifestyle blog and launch her Little Lights of Mine YouTube channel, which allowed her to put her cooking skills in front of an audience. Her love, she told E! News, was “cooking, my family, and making people through food.”
She also pays attention to basketball with the same zeal. “I’m an ardent supporter.” I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself. ” In November 2017, Ayesha remarked on EDaily’s Pop. “I’m a huge fan.”
During the NBA season, Ayesha is a regular at home games, bringing Riley frequently when she was a newborn but less frequently as she grew older, so as not to disrupt the growing young lady’s nighttime routine. Steph and Ayesha have a sweet pregame ritual where he taps his tattoo of two arrows pointing at each other on his left forearm, and she does the same with hers.
However, don’t confuse Ayesha’s support for her husband at work with a date night. “We’re in the same facility, but from the stands to the court, it’s all eye contact.” Then there’s the drive home. “Parents were informed by Steph. “The date is the journey home,” Ayesha added.
When they can, the pair takes advantage of parent-only time, such as when they went on a romantic excursion to Paris and Lake Como in the summer of 2017 or their adults-only trip to Cabo San Lucas for Valentine’s Day.
They just starred in the HBO Max reality show About Last Night, where they host game nights with cocktails for three other famous couples.
Ayesha agreed with Jason that Steph had made it easier for athletes to say they love their wives in public.
He’s never been the stereotypical person in that setting, I believe. I’m pleased with him for coming up with that, “she exclaimed, laughing. Her dream date night consists of putting the kids to bed early, remaining at home, “and just hammering through wine, watching TV, and just hugging,” she says.
What was the most romantic thing Steph ever did? On Mother’s Day, I made breakfast in bed using dishes from Ayesha’s cookbook. She informed Jason, “And for him to wake up early is, like, a big deal.” “So it’s very, really precious to me when he does that, and he puts so much effort into it.”
Last summer, though, when Steph surprised her with a backyard vow renewal ceremony on their 10th anniversary, Riley officiated, and breakfast in bed may have been exceeded.
She remarked a few weeks later, after uploading the photographs. “It’s everything I’ve always dreamed of but didn’t realize could be possible in this fashion.” “An experience I’ll never forget.”
Steph tweeted, “My wife is a champ!” after the birth of their second child, daughter Ryan Carson Curry, on July 10, 2015. On her blog, Ayesha wrote, “Life is truly a gift that cannot be described.” On Friday night, we were fortunate enough to have it all over again. Riley adores her little sister and has done an excellent job in her new role as big sister. “
On July 2, 2018, their son, Canon W. Jack Curry, was born, just in time for the fireworks. (Are you noticing a birthday pattern in the off-season and post-playoffs?)
“We named him after my grandfather,” Steph said on the All the Smoke podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.
“On both sides [of our family], he is the first boy. The first grandchild is a male. He’s a spoiled brat, but he’s great. “
The sole benefit of being sidelined with an injury for most of the 2019-2020 season, as Steph was after fracturing his hand in October 2019, was extra time with his family at home.
“I was like a stay-at-home parent for the first three weeks that I was hurt,” he told All the Smoke.
“Do all the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Steph said, “like take ’em to school, pick ’em up, and go to all the extracurricular events.”
My daughter participates in horseback riding and soccer. Being there at every occasion without any excuses, such as’ Oh, I have to be somewhere, ‘or being on a road trip, etc.”
When he’s on the road, he uses FaceTime to communicate with his wife (who utilizes the uncontested TV time to catch up on This Is Us) and children, and when he’s at home, he’s a hands-on father who knows every word to the Moana soundtrack, as proven by a Carpool Karaoke appearance. And we’re quite sure the family has a stash of identical jammies.
“My favorite thing about him is that he isn’t too cool for school.” He’ll get down on the floor with the girls and play with them. He’ll dress up if he has to, and he’s incredibly patient, which I’m not. We counterbalance each other. ” Parents were informed by Ayesha.
Riley stole the show at one of her father’s postgame interviews. She saw him walking by the room where family members gather and insisted on joining him. Steph said Riley was now more famous than he or his wife.
“People identify her far more quickly than they recognize me or Ayesha,” he remarked. “And if we go somewhere and she isn’t with us, the first thing they ask is, ‘Where is Riley?'”
Nothing has changed—Riley even appeared in an ESPN advertisement alongside her father.
When it came to bonding with his son, Steph told Barnes and Jackson, “I feel like I just met him because he’s so low-key.” For the first year, my wife held him captive. My girls were also able to contact him. “Canon, I’m over here, man!” I say. ‘How are you doing?’
But it’s hard to blame Ayesha for wanting to be the center of Canon’s attention.
She had terrible morning sickness and was hospitalized five times in three months during her third pregnancy, after two comparatively easy pregnancies. She was frequently too tired to prepare or even eat.
In February 2018, Ayesha stated on GoInspo, “The simple smell of food averts me.” “All of this has put me in a funk that I can’t seem to get out of. I’m not going to say I’m depressed since I take mental health very seriously, but I’m truly sad. It stinks when you suddenly can’t do what you love due to an unpredictable situation. “
Riley and Ryan were kissing her tummy goodnight, and her husband was being “an absolute angel,” she added. “I’ve never seen two little people fall in love with something/someone they’ve never met or seen before,” Ayesha said.
Canon was born healthy, and Ayesha was up and running again in no time. She’s unstoppable when she’s on her feet.
When questioned about some tweets Ayesha had sent out after Game 6, criticizing the refereeing and declaring the game “totally rigged for money… or ratings,” Steph joked to reporters before Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals (which Cleveland went on to win, coming back from a 3-1 series hole). She, in turn, was chastised for participating at all.
Steph continued, “Nothing is going to take my attention away from what’s going on on the court.” You’ll be questioned about it, and the conversations regarding what happened will be between me and Ayesha. “
“Aside from that, it doesn’t take away from what my job is on the court and what the next 48 minutes of Game 7 will be like, so that’s all I’m concerned about.”
Even though the Warriors didn’t repeat as champions that year, the Currys looked like winners in life as they jetted out to St. Tropez to relax in July. Steph had won his second consecutive league MVP award, and Ayesha had built her first pop-up restaurant, International Smoke, with chef Michael Mina (which is now open in San Francisco and Las Vegas) and was ready to release her first cookbook, Seasons of Life.
Ayesha’s Home Kitchen (formerly Ayesha Homemade) premiered on the Food Network in October 2016, and she has since developed a line of signature cookware, meal-prep kits, and other things, all of which are now available on her website, Homemade.
She has also been a CoverGirl model and worked with Züpa Noma. In 2017, she was named to Forbes’ list of “30 Under 30.”
On Ellen Tube in 2019, the “mompreneur” put her abilities to work hosting the digital series Fempire, in which she assisted aspiring female entrepreneurs in getting their businesses off the ground.
Steph, who has reciprocated by appearing on her shows and cooperating with her on a food-themed smartphone game, claims that her husband is always cooking at home, whipping up late-night snacks on the spur of the moment and preparing family dinners. He told ABC News that he’s happy to go grocery shopping when Ayesha says so.
“My wife doesn’t let me do it very frequently,” he said, “because I always mess something up.”
I’m going to forget one of the recipe’s crucial ingredients.
So when it comes to grocery store runs, I’m on a tight leash. But it’s something I enjoy doing.
According to Ayehsa, who spoke to FabFitFun, “As a mother, I frequently encounter roadblocks.” Sometimes, you may feel as though you aren’t doing enough or aren’t good enough. My husband is the one who motivates me. [He] is my driving, motivating force, and I owe him a debt of gratitude for that. “
Steph and the Warriors rebounded to win the NBA Championship in 2017 (which they also won in 2018), and he signed a five-year contract deal worth a reported $201 million in July of that year. The two-time league MVP also revealed that he had no problem with what his wife tweeted in 2016, a year after the scandal.
He told ABC News, “I encourage her to do her thing, to—to always speak her mind.”
“Like, never—never—muffle any of that,” she says. Never, never, never…
When Ayesha was dragged online in May 2019 in response to her frankly saying on Red Table Talk that she doesn’t love all the attention her husband gets from women, and that she doesn’t feel like guys ever notice her, the feeling was echoed.
Steph said to his wife on Instagram, “Proud of you for being real and putting yourself out there—not being afraid of the potential bulls—t and nonsense that may and did come at you.” “With all of this, there are far more positives than negatives. Continue to be yourself. I’m in love with you. “
That type of support has been built into their marriage, with Ayesha admitting in 2019 that supporting each other above all else is the key to their family’s long-term success.
“When you become a parent, you want to put your children first, and we do,” she explained to Hello Giggles, “but we put our relationship second.” Because, in the end, when we have a healthy connection, the kids are happy and prospering, and our family life is fantastic. We need to put things into context and know that it’s not about being selfish; it’s about laying a solid foundation. “
