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Will Amar’e’s Miami Mistress Put an End to His Jerusalem Fairy Tale?

Former NBA great—and Israeli basketball’s brightest star—slapped with a paternity suit

by
Liel Leibovitz
August 11, 2017
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Amar’e Stoudemire’s love affair with Jerusalem was fast and furious. Last August, the former Knicks power forward, freshly retired from the NBA, signed a deal with Hapoel Jerusalem, a team he liked so much he became its co-owner. Two months later, the team won the league’s cup, and the following year, its championship, making Amar’e the king of Jerusalem. He became involved with the Israeli start-up scene, and, according to some reports, grew more observant, studying Torah and going full Kosher.

A new scandal, sadly, may put an end to all that bliss: As the Daily Mail revealed this week, the ball player was slapped with a lawsuit by a Miami woman who claims Stoudemire fathered her daughter last year.

The woman, Quynn Lovett, is asking for full custody and permanent child support, alleging that Stoudemire has not been involved in the child’s life and has not contributed to the sizable hospital bills associated with the birth. According to court documents, Stoudemire, a married father of four, acknowledged that he may be the child’s father, and has been paying $4,333 a month in temporary child support for the past nine months as a result.

Responding to the suit, Stoudemire called it “frivolous,” and added that he had been “informed of his paternity several months after the child was born.” He also added that a payment plan has been in place since November 1.

Stoudemire and his wife, Alexis Welch, met at a Nelly concert in 2002 and married in 2012. They have four children together, ages four to eleven, and have recently posted happy family photos on Instagram. Here’s a bit of good news the couple may use in these tough times: At 14 percent, divorce rates in Israel are much lower than they are in the States.

Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.