Former NBA star Jalen Rose and ESPN ‘First Take’ host Molly Qerim got divorced after three years of marriage in late 2021. The pair originally wed in 2018.
Shortly after their split, much was made about the reason for it.
Qerim’s ‘First Take’ co-host Stephen A. Smith earned a prominent place in the rumors regarding her divorce from Rose, for obvious reasons.
This week, Rose finally addressed all the gossip regarding his split from Qerim, the validity of it, and how it impacted him.
“I still see that, by the way. I might say something about someone’s team and I’ll see, ‘That’s why Molly left him!’ or ‘That’s why Stephen A. kickin’ it wit’ yo ex-wife!’ That’s not true,” Rose told GQ Magazine.
“But, when it happened, it’s two ways for me to handle it as a professional: I work with him, I got love for him, and that’s my brother. I got love for her, we were friends before we were married, we just didn’t work as a couple. I just saw her today. We cool! But for me to see the speculation and for people to assume that was why, it bothered me.”
Moreover, after a while, the way the topic of his divorce would constantly trend began to wear on Rose.
“It was trending [online], [Smith] was trending, [Qerim] was trending, I was trending. It was a real thing,” Rose continued. “And, like, am I about to respond to that? It gave me a real fork in the road. But I didn’t, because I knew it wasn’t true. I would just be fueling those people. Not responding, and finally sprinkling some here and there, it made people who ran with it look less credible.
“We discussed it. It’s why none of us said anything. People would say, ‘Jalen’s a sucker, Stephen A. snatched his wife and he up there workin’ with him,’ or ‘Look, at Molly, she was talkin’ to Jalen yesterday now she kickin it with…’ That ain’t happen. We all looked at it like: it was such a reach. That’s why none of us have spoken on it.”
While Rose’s position on this topic is understandable, it’s hard not to feel like a lot of the rumors and speculation could have been killed off with a simple statement at the time. Of course there would have been deniers and naysayers, but silence isn’t always the best option.
There’s a reason why, to this date, people can’t help but notice little things about Smith and Qerim.
That’s one way to prepare for the #NFLDraft https://t.co/D0Ujr17nrz
— Game 7 (@game7__) April 28, 2022
It will be interesting to see if Rose’s decision to come out and address this topic ultimately does settle the matter once and for all.
If it does, hopefully it ends up giving all parties involved the peace they deserve.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
