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The news that NBA star Matt Barnes stormed into the home of his estranged fiancée Gloria Govan and attacked her new boyfriend Derek Fisher might have been a strange surprise for Knicks fans and the general population, but for a few million Basketball Wives fans, it’s just another chapter in an on-again, off-again romance that has played out onscreen for the past five years. For many, New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher might be the biggest celebrity in this story, but for some of us, Gloria is the one with the name recognition. She and her sister Laura have been at the center of some serious NBA gossip and turned it into fodder for reality television flawlessly. Until fans got tired of them, obviously.
Gloria was cast on VH1’s Basketball Wives back in 2010 when she was a young mother to the twin sons she shared with Barnes, and the couple — who have known each other since high school — was in the process of planning their wedding. Gloria was an interesting choice for the series and perhaps was brought in to the show to be a scapegoat from the very beginning because everyone who knew her name also knew that her sister, Laura, was rumored to have slept with Shaquille O’Neal. Did I mention that the creator of Basketball Wives is Shaq’s ex wife, Shaunie? Shaunie’s relationship with Gloria was strange from the beginning because of that connection, but ultimately it was Gloria’s contempt for her boss that got her kicked off the show.
Early on in the show, one of Gloria’s BBW co-stars casually asked the question “Who has slept with Shaquille O’Neal?” Another co-star, Evelyn Lozada (who has had her share of high profile relationships and scandal herself) literally pointed her finger at Gloria and said, “Allegedly, her sister.” Gloria defended her sis, and it created an instant rift between her and the rest of her co-stars who are Shaunie’s crew. Was she cast just so she could be interrogated about her sister on TV so Shaunie could get the word out that this is the family who ruined her marriage? (Or helped ruin it, since it’s not like Laura was the only woman he might have been with.) All signs point to yes.
Gloria spent two seasons defending her sister, who has four children with NBA player Gilbert Arenas (they have since split in a very tumultuous, very “they-still-fight-each-other-on-Instagram” kind of way), against the allegations that she slept with Shaq. Gloria even brought Laura on the show to get advice about how she should handle these women who are judging her and dislike her for what her sister (ALLEGEDLY) did.
Throughout the course of the show, Gloria made enemies of her co-stars any time she discussed how perfect and enviable her own relationship with Barnes was. When your peers and costars are all ex-wives or ex-girlfriends, and you are young and engaged and in a seemingly happy relationship, best not to rub your happiness in. After Gloria made a regrettable comment that some of her co-stars wished they had what she had, that was the beginning of her end, especially considering the fact that Barnes was once arrested for domestic violence.
After touting her amazing relationship for two seasons, Shaunie, Evelyn, and the rest of the cast were all too happy to rub it in her face when she called off her wedding to Barnes. Shaunie O’Neal was (and is) not usually one to lose her cool on the show — as the executive producer, she has always gotten to choose which aspects of her personality she wants to reveal on camera, and it was never in her best interest to amp up the ratchet, lest she be seen as un-classy. But she could not resist dogging Gloria for her failed engagement, calling Gloria a heartless failure, which led to Gloria calling her boss a cunt on national television. Shaunie then unceremoniously told her to kick rocks, as any boss would after that.
On the reunion episode for that season, Gloria surprised her co-stars by returning to share the stage with them, and she explained her current relationship status with Barnes to whom, at that point, she was still engaged. In the clip, she explains, “My relationship, obviously, is not perfect… We argue, there was a domestic dispute and y’know, that’s it,” adding that the domestic violence charges against Barnes were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Gloria was booted off Basketball Wives after two seasons and was then surprisingly recast in its spinoff, Basketball Wives: LA, the following year along with Laura. And while she was on BBWLA, one of her “serious” plot lines revolved around an acting job she landed in a comedy-action web series…for Shaq’s comedy channel. Clean Ops: The Chronicles of V, Prelude lasted five episodes. Five eternal episodes.
And as the Kim and Kyle of the franchise, the Basketball Wives: LA producers were smart to capitalize on the dynamic of the sisters, who eventually did have a falling out. It didn’t last long though, but it made for an emotional reconciliation — where else? — on a basketball court after a sweaty game of HORSE. Of course. Of course.
Gloria and Laura both left the spinoff after two seasons, and the show has thrived without them. Her relationship with Matt Barnes was always rocky, and no, it’s not surprising to hear about what happened between them this week. They may have left reality TV, but they will never stop acting like the cameras are rolling.
[You can watch Basketball Wives on Hulu]
Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer obsessed with reality TV, Nashville and Sleepy Hollow. She would rather live in a world with no Muppets than these new Muppets.
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