When WNBA champion and NBA commentator Candace Parker shared in December 2021 that she had not solely been married for 2 years to Anna Petrakova however that they had been additionally anticipating a toddler collectively, it took lots of people without warning. The choice to share such a personal a part of her life was not one Parker took flippantly. As she revealed in a current interview with TIME, she solely selected to take action to ship a message to her daughter, Lailaa, 13, from her first marriage to former NBA participant Sheldon Williams.
“I at all times inform my daughter to be herself. I at all times inform my daughter to be pleased with who she is. And I at all times inform my daughter to talk for herself and communicate up for those who she loves. And I can’t say that to her if I’m not doing it myself,” she shared. “I don’t need her to ever suppose that I’m ashamed or not pleased with our household. That was a step that we needed to take. However we needed to take it on our personal phrases.”
Within the interview, which additionally consists of Petrakova, it’s famous that the couple’s relationship first started as a friendship after they performed on the ladies’s basketball workforce UMMC Ekaterinburg in Russia. Issues would ultimately change between the 2 as late nights spent speaking developed into sharing a kiss and realizing they’d emotions for one another. They didn’t see themselves marrying one other lady although, so that they tried to cover their rising affection.
“We actually denied it to ourselves for 3 years I believe,” Petrakova stated. “Then we simply lastly accepted it. That was an extended, arduous course of.”
The pair would get engaged in 2019 and marry that December in entrance of fifty company who needed to hold their nuptials and their general relationship personal. However now issues are out within the open (additionally they have a son named Airr they welcomed in February 2022). Now that all of it is, Parker is grateful for the constructive suggestions she and Petrakova have obtained.
“I used to be at all times in opposition to ‘popping out’ as a result of I felt like on this society, nowadays, you shouldn’t have to do this,” says Parker. “Society had a approach of placing this strain on individuals to come back out. And I don’t suppose it must be that approach. I believe there have been a variety of media members who knew about my household. They usually supported it. They didn’t out me. Or they didn’t put strain on me to show my residing state of affairs.”
“We reside in an oversharing world,” she provides. “It is best to have the ability to select the elements of your life that you simply share and the elements you retain personal. And I hope I used to be capable of open up the door of conversations. And open up the door of how priceless it’s to have help.”
