Why Fans Can't Stand Ayesha Curry

The following article includes brief references to racism, colorism, and postpartum depression.

Ayesha Curry has been married to Golden State Warriors point guard Wardell Stephen "Steph" Curry II throughout the entirety of his NBA career, so she's become well-acquainted with the special kind of vitriol that some sports fans reserve for WAGs. Steph's four championship rings likely make Ayesha an even more attractive target for trolls.

Ayesha and Steph first met as teens. They were members of the same youth group at a Charlotte, North Carolina church, and Steph confessed to crushing on Ayesha a fair bit back then. However, he probably wouldn't have gotten very far if he had ever gathered up the courage to do more than admire her from afar. "I wasn't allowed to date in high school," Ayesha once explained to Parents magazine. Fate brought them back together when Steph was still playing college ball. Ayesha was living in Los Angeles at the time, and Steph was going to be there for the ESPYs. So, he finally asked her out via Facebook. "It was friend vibes ... until I dodged his first kiss," said Ayesha.

Theirs is the type of relationship that really seems to rankle haters. They've been together since before Steph became a professional athlete, à la Brittany Mahomes and Patrick Mahomes, and Ayesha has become successful in her own right by turning her passion for cooking into a business empire. Ayesha Curry also isn't afraid to speak her mind, and her critics' favorite pastime seems to be parsing her words to find something to be outraged over.

Ayesha Curry has been Steph Curry's ride-or-die for over a decade. She was pursuing an acting career when they first started dating, but she later shifted her focus to cooking. She's published multiple cookbooks, starred on her own Food Network show, hosted the ABC series "Family Food Fight," and launched an upscale restaurant chain called International Smoke. But some of the culinary queen's critics believe she's been given all these opportunities solely because she's married to a popular NBA star.

In a since-deleted response to one of Ayesha's 2016 Instagram posts about the opening of an International Smoke pop-up restaurant, one commenter snarked in part, "Inspiring women to ... be the best cooks/wives they can be eh? Or make a profit off of their 'husband's' success?" The Instagrammer also complained that Ayesha wasn't using her platform effectively, suggesting that she should be encouraging women from marginalized groups to go to college and "become entrepreneurs independently of the men they are married [to]." Ayesha responded in part, "Not sure why you're so bitter but I am an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. You can continue to make assumptions while I continue working in silence and let the work speak for itself."

In a 2019 interview with Working Mother (via People), Ayesha expressed frustration with the critics who give Steph undeserved credit for her successful culinary career. "He hasn't invested a dime in my restaurant business," she said.

In 2015, Ayesha Curry decided to share her feelings about fashion on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Everyone's into barely wearing clothes these days huh? Not my style. I like to keep the good stuff covered up for the one who matters," she wrote. While numerous fans chimed in to let her know that they felt the same way about dressing modestly, her tweet rubbed others the wrong way. Some critics found her comments condescending and overly judgmental. "She could have just said that she likes to dress a certain way. She just had to insult other women," one person wrote. "This post is so wrong. Slut-shaming is wrong," another tweeted in part. Others argued that there's nothing wrong with women wearing whatever makes them feel best instead of dressing for their partner. 

Curry learned that the internet has a long memory five years later when she shared two bikini photos on Instagram. Some critics noted that her swimsuit was not the "covered up" look she'd previously expressed a preference for and accused her of hypocrisy. "And Just like that, Ayesha Curry just did the same thing she bashed other women for," one person tweeted. Curry's caption, "Took me long enough," seemed to be about her 35-pound postpartum weight loss, and an X user theorized that her feelings about showing skin were tied to her changing body shape. "The real storyline here is don't project your insecurities on to everyone else," the critic wrote in part.

When Ayesha Curry talked about feeling unnoticed, her critics took notice. In a 2019 appearance on "Red Table Talk," Ayesha opened up about how being a WAG has made her feel insecure. She confessed that it makes her uncomfortable whenever she witnesses other women trying to get Steph Curry's attention and essentially treating him like he's available. However, she isn't concerned about the sports star being receptive to their flirtations. Instead, these occasions make her more aware of her lack of similar validation of her desirability. "I have zero — this sounds weird — but, like, male attention, and so then I begin to internalize it, and I'm like, 'Is something wrong with me?'" she said. "... I don't want it, but it'd be nice to know that someone's lookin'."

Her real talk was too frank and raw for some of her haters. On X, there were suggestions that she was being ungrateful for her many blessings, which include three children and the adoration of one of the NBA's top players. Others accused Ayesha of being disrespectful to Steph. "Y'all know if Steph said he wants other females attention he would be crucified," one person argued in part. A number of critics also brought up Ayesha's past remarks about dressing modestly. "This the same woman that said she prefers to keep the good stuff covered up for the one that matters," read one post, which went on to claim, "Now she's insecure bc no one looking at her."

Steph Curry will always be the MVP in Ayesha Curry's eyes, so when she felt like the refs were doing him wrong during Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals, she spouted off on social media. "This is absolutely rigged for money ... Or ratings," her since-deleted complaint read in part. It's the type of thing you often see from passionate basketball fans who are frustrated over how things are going for their team. But Ayesha is not your average NBA fan, and for years afterward, her haters would continue roasting her over the tweet. "Ayesha Curry rigged post was the funniest s*** ever," one person tweeted in 2021. "I pray my wife don't embarrass me like that."

Ayesha received a lot of unsolicited advice from her followers in response to her posts about the game. "I'm sorry but you're just being a sore loser and you need to stop," one message read. "You need to grow up, and not vent on twitter," another person wrote in part.

"First Take" host Stephen A. Smith ensured that ESPN viewers who weren't on social media became aware of Ayesha's controversial tweet by sharing his take on it. He suggested that Steph's Finals rival, LeBron James, had a better-behaved wife. "She doesn't bring any attention to herself," Smith said of Savannah James, as recapped by Vice. He added, "And nobody — nobody — is more scrutinized than her husband. But yet, she thinks about how she represents him."

When Ayesha Curry appeared on the talk show "The Real" in 2021, one of the topics of discussion was women throwing themselves at her husband. However, her "Girl Chat" segment with the co-hosts was overshadowed by an action that became the talk of social media. When Ayesha laid eyes on a shirtless man who walked onto the stage with a tray of cocktails, she pretended like she was trying to take her wedding ring off. After the drinks were served, she quipped, "I'll be back next Friday."

Ayesha was clearly just joking around, but X users weren't laughing when a video clip of her ring removal gag resurfaced in 2023. One person compared Ayesha to another outspoken WAG, Brittany Mahomes. "People may find Mahomes wife annoying but there's no questions about her loyalty and devotion to he and their family. Can we absolutely say the same about Ayesha?" they tweeted. Another critic wrote, "That man has never embarrassed her but she keeps doing stuff to embarrass him smh." There were some suggestions that Ayesha had disrespected her husband, as well as a number of messages expressing sympathy for Steph Curry. 

Ayesha's haters also took their indignation on her husband's behalf to Instagram. In response to Steph calling Ayesha "my Woman" in the comments section of one of her posts, one Instagrammer claimed, "Hey bro she don't deserve you with all due respect." But as of this writing, that ring remains firmly on Ayesha's finger.

In 2019, HOT97 tweeted a since-deleted video of Ayesha Curry doing the Milly Rock dance while Steph Curry watched, and internet trolls saw her awkward moves as another excuse to attack her. The video was filmed at the opening of her International Smoke restaurant's Del Mar, California location. For the occasion, Ayesha rocked a pale pink babydoll dress with puff sleeves and ruffles. "That Ayesha Milly Rock video's one of the worst things I've seen in my life," read one of the more dramatic reactions to her stiff gyrations. Her performance was also compared to Elaine Benes' terrible dancing in "Seinfeld," and she was accused of engaging in attention-seeking behavior.

After viewing the video, some of Steph's fans thought that he was in need of solace and support. "I say we lift brother Steph up in prayer for this trials and tribulations he's enduring right now," one person tweeted in part. However, the NBA star made his thoughts about the Ayesha slander clear in a video uploaded to his Instagram Story. "Slow news day today, I see, huh?" he said. "Just make sure y'all send me the video of you dancing at your own restaurant opening." 

Whenever Steph's wife feels like dancing, he always wants her to get up and groove. Speaking to People in 2020 about the advice he gives Ayesha, he said, "I tell her, 'Keep being you. Keep doing what you're doing. Don't worry about what people are going to say.'"

On "Red Table Talk," Ayesha Curry spoke about her experience being mixed-race, saying that she finds it deeply hurtful when people say she isn't Black. Ayesha revealed that this is an issue she's dealt with since moving from Canada to the United States as a teenager. "I became not Black enough for the Black people, and not white enough for the white people," she said.

Ayesha's race became a topic of conversation among her critics in 2020 when she rocked blonde hair in an Instagram Boomerang. "B***h started off as a beautiful Black woman & now switched her whole look & now looks like a white girl," one tweet about her new look read in part. "Let's say a prayer y'all." Another person snarked, "Ayesha Curry brought that Karen energy when she complained the NBA was rigged when the Warriors lost, not surprised she adopted the Karen aesthetic."

The backlash was so extreme that Steph Curry felt the need to play some defense. He took to the comments of Ayesha's post to assure her that she looked gorgeous as a blonde. And her haters had to feel a bit silly wigging out over a change that wasn't going to last long at all. "If the wig falls off I won't tell anybody, I promise," Steph quipped. He also cracked a joke that Ayesha would never be able to get away with: "Wait — that's been you in this bed the whole time???"

Ayesha Curry decided to open up about something deeply personal in 2019: her decision to get breast implants while she was struggling with postpartum depression. She explained to Working Mother (via USA Today) that she thought the surgical procedure would make her feel better during that dark time. She'd given birth to her second-oldest daughter, Ryan, and was feeling insecure about her appearance. "The intention was just to have them lifted, but I came out with these bigger boobs I didn't want," she said. "I got the most botched boob job on the face of the planet."

While many people find it refreshing when celebrities are honest about the work they've had done, Ayesha seemingly can't do anything right in the eyes of the internet trolls who closely scrutinize her every move. They decided that she wasn't being brave or relatable by sharing her story and instead complained that she was oversharing. "She's beyond begging for attention," claimed one tweet in part. 

Some people also took issue with the timing of the interview's publication, which was the same day as the Western Conference Finals opener. Their reasoning was that it would be an unwelcome distraction for Steph Curry. "He's trying to focus and she only cares about singing her tunes. This is not the time. How self-absorbed and selfish," one person wrote in part. But Steph helped the Warriors win the game by scoring 36 points, so he seemed pretty unbothered by it.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Some male singers single out female fans in their concert crowds and get them all giddy by seductively serenading them. Throughout his Las Vegas residency in 2023, Usher had done this with a number of famous faces, including Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian. Some members of Ayesha Curry's haters brigade were convinced that she was hoping for a similar experience at a Drake show in Brooklyn that July. In a clip that went viral on X, Drake approached Steph Curry in the audience and showed him some love by saying, "I got my brother in the building tonight. They say we look alike." Drake had his back to Ayesha at first, and her eyes were fixed on her husband's face as he laughed at what the rapper-singer was saying.

Armchair body language experts read a lot into Ayesha's facial expressions. Her critics were convinced that she was envious of the attention Steph was getting from Champagne Papi. "Ayesha jealous that Steph got the Drake serenade lol," one person quipped. "Your wife being your biggest supporter & also your biggest hater gotta be a hellish experience," another comment claimed. Others complained about Ayesha's supposed demeanor, suggesting that she looked unhappy.

However, Ayesha was all smiles in a photo that was snapped backstage at the show. She was grasping Steph's arm and resting her cheek on his shoulder as he gave the camera a mock frown. She wrote in her Instagram caption, "He thinks y'all are weird TBH."