Endless cheating rumors, lavish gifts that never get used, and wild parties. LeBron and Savannah James may seem like an ideal couple — but the full story of their marriage is much more complicated.
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00:00Endless cheating rumors, lavish gifts that never get used, and wild parties. LeBron and
00:05Savannah James may seem like an ideal couple, but the full story of their marriage is much
00:10more complicated.
00:13During her senior year of high school, a flurry of thoughts raced through Savannah James'
00:17mind once she realized she was pregnant with LeBron James Jr. She told Harper's Bazaar,
00:22I was thinking, what am I going to tell my parents? What's going to happen to his career?
00:26It was LeBron James Sr. who helped to keep her calm and ease her fears, but the support
00:30she received from him didn't stop the people in her hometown from making disgusting remarks
00:35about her intentions. The naysayers were quick to speculate that Savannah had gotten pregnant
00:39on purpose to lock down a child with LeBron Sr., who was in his rookie season with the
00:44Cleveland Cavaliers. She told the magazine,
00:46That was clearly not the case. I had a good group of friends around me, so I didn't let
00:50those things get to me. If I did, I would have been running home crying every day.
00:54I don't have a lot of regrets.
00:56The haters weren't without reason for their thinking, though. The NBA has even confirmed
01:01they teach rookies to retrieve their used condoms so women are unable to impregnate
01:05themselves. So, baby entrapment is a concern for some.
01:10As a star high school basketball player, LeBron's prowess on the court was a coach's dream.
01:15It wasn't long until NBA scouts had their eyes on him. In other words, most basketball
01:19bigwigs were able to easily recognize his potential. Savannah, on the other hand, wasn't
01:24so sure. She told Harper's Bazaar,
01:26I just thought he'd be a hometown hero for his era and it would be over.
01:30When LeBron was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers as the first pick in the 2003 NBA draft, fans
01:35may have assumed that Savannah would have known that he was destined to be an NBA legend.
01:40That couldn't be further from the truth. She told The Cut,
01:43I don't know if I took it that seriously even then. You know what I'm saying? I really,
01:47really didn't know.
01:49LeBron essentially lives his life underneath a microscope, and any slip-up is guaranteed
01:54to make headlines for days on end. The basketball player found this out the hard way in April
01:592016 when a woman named Rachel Bush put him on blast by taking a screenshot of a suggestive
02:04direct message he allegedly sent to her that read,
02:07Hey, what's up?
02:08Although the text seemed harmless, LeBron faced backlash for messaging Bush while he
02:12was married. Surprisingly, that wouldn't be the last time he got caught with his hand
02:16in the cookie jar. Next up was an Instagram model named Heidi Hoback, who also exposed
02:21the basketball player for allegedly sliding into her DMs.
02:25LeBron and Savannah have never publicly addressed the alleged texts. In her interview with The
02:29Cut, Savannah said of her decision to stay mum amid endless cheating rumors,
02:33That is going to put you in a rabbit hole that you don't want to be in.
02:38Over the years, LeBron has spared no expense when it comes to spoiling his wife. Savannah
02:42received an engagement ring that reportedly cost upwards of $300,000. In a similar fashion,
02:48LeBron spent $100,000 on a painting for his wife.
02:51However, not all of LeBron's grand shows of affection are well thought out. For Savannah's
02:5630th birthday, he surprised her by purchasing a pricey Ferrari. There was just one little
03:00problem with his gift. Though Savannah was thrilled with her new set of wheels, she told
03:04Essence magazine,
03:05It will be even more awesome when I can drive it. I cannot drive a manual. I'll learn to
03:09drive it. By this spring, it'll be on and poppin' in my new Ferrari."
03:14Although LeBron has a squeaky clean public image, there may be more skeletons in his
03:18closet than his fans know. In a September 2022 episode of the Sophia with an F podcast,
03:24host Sophia Franklin was talking about how some celebrities are extra cautious when having
03:28wild parties. She singled out LeBron in particular.
03:32LeBron James has various parties constantly where NDAs need to be signed."
03:39While Franklin had no evidence to back up her claims, LeBron is no stranger to wild
03:43parties. Amid music mogul P. Diddy's arrest, a video resurfaced of LeBron endorsing the
03:48rapper's parties during an Instagram Live session.
03:50Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so."
03:53Clearly, the quote didn't age well.