All About Aaron Hernandez's Daughter Avielle Janelle Hernandez

For the late Aaron Hernandez, becoming a father to his daughter, Avielle Janelle Hernandez, 11, completely changed his perspective.

“One thing I know is that it definitely changed my life,” the former New England Patriots player told the media shortly after Avielle was born on Nov. 6, 2012.

However, seven months after Avielle’s birth, Hernandez was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd and was immediately dismissed by the Patriots. By April 2015, the young father was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Two years later, when Avielle was just 4 years old, Hernandez died by suicide in his jail cell – just days after he was acquitted of additional murder charges.

“Aaron had demons; we all know that. But he was really devoted to his daughter. Man, did he love her,” said Hernandez’s former University of Florida teammate.

Now Avielle is being raised by her mother, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez.

Here’s everything you need to know about the only child of the late NFL player, Aviella Janelle Hernandez.

She has a birthday with Hernandez

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez Instagram

Hernandez and his fiancee, Jenkins-Hernandez, welcomed a child together on November 6, 2012 — which also happened to be Hernandez’s 23rd birthday. The former Patriots tight end called Avielle’s arrival “the best birthday present,” according to NBC Sports.

“It’s crazy … to have a daughter on your birthday. Especially a daddy’s little girl,” Hernandez told reporters. “I’m honored. I couldn’t ask for a better life at this point. My life is pretty good. Thank God for that. It’s a blessing. I still feel blessed every day.”

Hernandez also talked about how becoming a father was “life-changing” — and for the better.

“I’m going to look at things differently,” Hernandez said. “I may be young and wild, but I’m not. I’m engaged now. I have a child so it’s going to make me think about life a lot differently and do things the right way because now I’m looked up to by others. I just can’t be young and reckless anymore , Aaron.”

In November 2023, Jenkins-Hernandez celebrated Avielle’s 11th birthday with a sweet Instagram post.

“You were such an inspiration to watch growing up. Your dedication and hard work is something I will always admire – first in, last out (just like your dad),” she wrote. “Keep being the amazing young lady you are and never lose that smile! Dad would be so proud.”

She was 7 months old when Hernandez was arrested in 2013

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez Instagram

On June 26, 2013 — when Avielle was just 7 months old — Hernandez was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder for the killing of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee at the time.

Prosecutors said Hernandez, along with two other men, picked Lloyd up in a rented Nissan Altima at his home shortly after 2:30 a.m. on June 17, 2013, and drove him to a secluded industrial park in North Attleborough, where he was killed. six times. It remains unclear who pulled the trigger, but prosecutors said Hernandez orchestrated the killing.

The trial began almost a year and a half later on January 29, 2015. Hernandez was eventually found guilty of first degree murder on April 15, 2015 and sentenced to life in prison.

She attended Hernandez’s double-murder trial as a four-year-old

While in prison for Lloyd’s murder, Hernandez’s second trial began in March 2017 — this time on charges that he killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting outside a Boston nightclub in 2012.

While the jury was deliberating in April 2017, Hernandez’s fiancee, Jenkins-Hernandez, attended the trial for the first time with Avielle in tow. The The Washington Post reported at the time that Hernandez blew his 4-year-old daughter several kisses and waves in the courtroom. It would be the last time Avielle saw her father alive.

On April 19, 2017, Hernandez died by suicide – five days after being acquitted of the double murder.

Hernandez left behind three farewell messages, including one for Avielle. “Daddy will never leave you! I am entering a timeless realm where I can enter any form at any time because I see everything that may or may not have happened at once! Life is eternal-believe!!!” he wrote. “Love, repent and see me/yourself in everyone because it is true! I will see you all in the heavens waiting for you all with the same love.”

“Never fear me, but love me with all of you! Fear is the only separation between you and me! We are each other—I/You—You/I—There’s no need to fear, but what you do to another will come back around !”

She is the older sister

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez Instagram

On June 16, 2018, Avielle became a big sister when Jenkins gave birth to her second child, a daughter named Giselle. Jenkins-Hernandez revealed her pregnancy on Instagram in May 2018, 13 months after her fiance Hernandez died in prison. Sources close to the family confirmed to PEOPLE that Hernandez did not freeze his sperm and is not the father of Jenkins-Hernandez’s second child.

Despite their five-year age difference, Avielle seems to be Giselle’s caring older sister. Jenkins-Hernandez often shares pictures of the duo on her Instagram account, writing in July 2020: “I never have to worry about them taking care of each other!!!! #thebestoffriends❤️ #sisterlove💕.”

She is a dancer

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez Instagram

Avielle has been competing since she was at least 6 years old when Jenkins-Hernandez first shared a picture of her older child wearing a competitive dance team jacket. Around the same time Avielle started first grade in 2019, Jenkins-Hernandez revealed on social media that Avielle wanted to be a professional dancer when she grew up.

Over the years, Jenkins-Hernandez has shared several of Avielle’s dance accomplishments on her Instagram account, including playing a mouse in Nutcracker ballet, receiving the 5-year award in 2020 and performing a solo. “She doesn’t know how proud her daddy would be!!! Baby You are a STAR 💫,” Jenkins-Hernandez wrote on Instagram in March 2021 alongside three photos of Aviella competing on stage.

However, the cost of Avielle’s dance lessons raised concerns in September 2022 about how Hernandez’s fiancee was spending money from the late NFL player’s foundation. That month, Jenkins-Hernandez asked the foundation for $10,000 to cover the cost of Avielle’s competitive dance lessons. The request was denied by attorney David Schwartz, who cited roughly $150,000 in funds issued annually to Jenkins-Hernandez to cover Aviella’s daily expenses.

“There is every reason to question whether and how the Conservator is using substantial funds that should be available to pay for Avielle’s daily needs, including dance lessons, especially since all of her basic housing insurance and educational expenses are being paid by the Foundation,” read court documents obtained by the Foundation. PEOPLE.

Jenkins-Hernandez claims she did what was in her daughter’s best interest when it came to all the funds Hernandez gave her.

“Since Aaron’s death, my sole focus has been on raising and providing as stable a life as possible for my children,” the mother of two said in an email. The Boston Globe. “All the money I’ve spent has been directed at this singular focus and that will continue to be my focus.”

She has the same “energy and personality” as her father

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez Instagram

When Avielle was born, Hernandez immediately spoke about the resemblance between him and his only child. “She’s cute,” he told the media two days after her birth in 2012. “I can’t wait to go back and actually look at myself.”

As Avielle grew up, she continued to resemble her late father. Jenkins-Hernandez often comments on their similarities: In February 2019, she posted a photo of Aviella side-by-side with a young Hernandez on her Instagram, calling her daughter “daddy’s twin.”

Jenkins-Hernandez also talked about how the two share similar personality traits. “You both act so alike it’s crazy,” she wrote on Instagram in November 2017. In April 2019, on the two-year anniversary of Hernandez’s death, his fiancée shared, “The energy and personality that Avielle possesses is totally you!”

She echoed a similar sentiment two years later, in April 2021, writing that Avielle keeps Hernandez’s “presence alive.”

Her father’s case made headlines again in 2024

During the May 2024 Netflix special Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady, both Brady and comedian Nikki Glaser mentioned Hernandez, with Glaser joking that he wears the ring “around his neck.”

After the special, Jenkins-Hernandez told TMZ she wasn’t happy about the mention, especially now that Avielle is old enough to know what was said.

“It’s sad that I’m trying to raise my children in such a cruel world,” she said.

In September, a TV show based on Hernandez’s life, american sports story, premiered on FX. Josh Andrés Rivera stars as the late NFL player in the anthology series that follows Hernandez’s personal life, career, conviction and eventual death.

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Source: HIS Education