La La Anthony Explains Why Her Marriage To Carmelo Suffered In The Spotlight

For years, La La Anthony and her husband, NBA player Carmelo Anthony, were relationship goals. Despite La La thinking that Carmelo's decision to introduce himself by sending her a bottle of Moet and Chandon was "lame," per The New York Times, he obviously won her over in other ways. Just one year later, on Christmas Day 2004, they got engaged, according to People. Midway through their six-year engagement, La La and Carmelo had their son, Kiyan Anthony, who was featured prominently in their 2010 VH1 wedding special, "La La's Full Court Wedding." Of course, their big day was a lavish affair. According to Us Weekly, La La accessorized her strapless Vera Wang gown with $250,000 in jewelry and had Kenny Latimore sing as she walked down the aisle. Unfortunately, however, La La and Carmelo's fairytale started to crumble a few years into their marriage. 

Over the years, rumors of cheating on both Carmelo and La La's parts have sullied the image of their perfect relationship. And though neither party has confirmed publicly, Carmelo allegedly fathered a child outside of their relationship in 2017. He was finally spotted out with her in 2021, per Hot 97. Apparently, this incident led La La and Carmelo to separate in 2017, although they eventually reconciled. In 2021, however, La La officially filed for divorce from Carmelo and cited "irreconcilable differences" 11 years into their marriage. 

Now, the "Power" star is sharing what she believes ultimately led to the end of her marriage to Carmelo. 

La La Anthony recently appeared on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast and shared the real reason that she and Carmelo Anthony are divorcing. According to the actor, Carmelo getting traded to the New York Knicks from the Denver Nuggets led to their downfall. "I'm from New York so being here is nothing new," shared La La. "When we lived here under all of that, that's when things became complicated," she continued, adding, "Now that I look back, that was kind of the start of the demise of the marriage." La La went on to blame the "scrutiny" and the "media and the press," adding, "It is really hard. That's not the only reason things didn't work out, but things got tough with New York... just constantly being under the spotlight and people watching every little thing."

La La shared similar sentiments back in May, in a profile for The Hollywood Reporter. "There was a lot of pressure [on their relationship]," said La La. "When it's good, it's good. And when it's bad, it's bad. Because when it's bad, then everybody got something to say about it." La La added that, although people said that she "should have known" what she was getting into, presumably by marrying an athlete, that she "didn't know a lot of it. I went into it because this is somebody I loved. I was leading with love. I wasn't leading with anything else."