Jrue Holiday and Lauren Holiday: All About the Athletes’ Relationship

Jrue and Lauren Holiday are the epitome of a power sports couple.

NBA point guard Jrue first met former American football star Lauren when they were both student athletes at UCLA in 2008. The couple married in 2013 and have two children together, daughter Jrue Tyler and son Hendrix.

During their relationship, both Jrue and Lauren built impressive careers in their respective sports. After playing basketball at UCLA for one season, Jrue was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers before joining the New Orleans Pelicans. Since 2020, he has played for the Milwaukee Bucks, leading the team to the 2021 NBA title and the 2020 Olympic gold medal.

After her time at UCLA, Lauren went on to play club soccer for the Pali Blues, Boston Breakers and FC Kansas City before joining the US Women’s National Soccer Team. The team won gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the 2012 London Summer Olympics and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada. In 2014, Lauren was named the American Soccer Female Athlete of the Year.

In 2015, Lauren retired from professional soccer to focus on her family. In the years since, the couple has welcomed their children, launched a social justice nonprofit, and continued to publicly support each other.

“It’s always been God, family and basketball,” Jrue said in an interview with Andscape in 2019. “To put them before basketball is a blessing to me. And God blessed me with many more after that. I don’t know if I could play without my family.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Jrue Holiday and Lauren Holiday’s relationship.

They met while attending UCLA

Lauren Holiday’s Instagram

The couple met in 2008 as students at UCLA, where Jrue played basketball and Lauren played soccer.

In a 2015 interview with ESPN, Jrue said he met Lauren at a UCLA women’s basketball game after a young fan mistook Jrue for his teammate Darren Collison and asked for an autograph.

He told the outlet that when he sat down, Lauren turned to him and said, “Don’t worry, you’re cuter than Darren.”

“And she was older than me, which was cool,” Jrue recalled. “I was a freshman and I think she was an underclassman. We were both with other people at the time, but we became friends, and months later, after I was drafted, we started dating.”

They got married in 2013

Lauren Holiday’s Instagram

After a year long engagement, Jrue and Lauren got married in Malibu, California. Many of Jrue’s former 76ers teammates attended the seaside nuptials, including Andre Iguodala, Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes and Royal Ivey, plus Jason Richardson and his wife, Jackie.

“Being engaged was great,” Lauren said in an interview with Philadelphia Inquirer in the months leading up to her wedding. “Obviously, planning a wedding isn’t my thing, but knowing that I was going to be with him for the rest of my life was a pretty cool feeling.”

They have two children together

Jrue Holiday Instagram

In September 2016, just weeks before brain surgery to remove the tumor, Lauren gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Jrue Tyler, in North Carolina. In 2020, they had a son named Hendrix.

Both Lauren and Jrue often share photos of their children on social media, as well as heartfelt tributes to each other. “You as a mother… that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Jrue wrote in an Instagram post for Lauren on Mother’s Day 2022. “The way you love our kids is so pure and I’m always there for that. ”

Lauren was diagnosed with a brain tumor while pregnant with their daughter

Lauren Holiday’s Instagram

When she was six months pregnant with their daughter, Lauren was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor known as a meningioma after experiencing painful headaches, ABC News reported. In September 2016, Jrue announced that he would sit out the start of the 2016-2017 season. with the New Orleans Pelicans to help his wife recover.

“My family comes before basketball,” Jrue, 26, told NOLA.com. “Obviously I’m blessed to be playing this game and to be in the position I’m in, but my wife is the most important thing in the world to me. She is ahead of everything.”

Doctors ended up inducing Lauren’s labor early so she could have the necessary brain surgery, which was performed at Duke University Hospital in October 2016.

After giving birth and undergoing successful brain surgery to remove a tumor, Lauren reflected on her health challenges, crediting her then-five-month-old daughter for helping her through.

“Every time I see this smile, I’m reminded that joy comes in the morning,” she wrote on Instagram. “Maybe not next day, maybe not even next month, but it’s coming. I can’t imagine what heaven will be like if this is the joy I can experience on earth.”

They founded a non-profit social justice organization

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In July 2020, Jrue announced that with his remaining salary for the 2019-2020 NBA season. together with his wife, he starts an initiative for social justice. The Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund, he explained in an Instagram post, would donate to black-led nonprofits, programs and institutions of higher education in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Indianapolis.

“I have pledged the remainder of my NBA salary for 2020 as a progressive step toward combating systemic racism, as well as the social and economic inequality that continues to prevent black communities from upward mobility,” Jrue said.

“Honestly, when it came down to it, me and my wife talked about what we could do to further this movement and progress and that we could help our community and we could just help,” he told ESPN after the announcement.

Later that month, Jrue arrived at a New Orleans Pelicans game wearing a mask that read “Say Their Names,” a rallying cry that emerged during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

They publicly support their careers

Jrue Holiday Instagram

Since their days as athletes in college, Jrue and Lauren have been a source of support for each other. In 2021 The New York Times profile, Jrue said that not only does his wife cheer him on, but she also offers constructive criticism when he needs it.

“She is literally an athlete and a winner in our family. It means a lot to me to get that from her. It’s real and she supports it,” Jrue said of Lauren’s feedback. The athlete also said that Lauren encouraged him to return to the NBA after the outbreak of COVID-19.

Support also goes both ways. Although Lauren has retired from football, Jrue still acknowledges her accomplishments. In November 2022, he shared a video on YouTube surprising Lauren with the news that she had been selected for the National Football Hall of Fame.

They were involved in a $13 million insurance lawsuit

Jrue Holiday Instagram

In February 2022. The New York Times reported that Jrue and Lauren, along with other professional athletes, filed lawsuits against Morgan Stanley, alleging that the company’s fraudulent investments cost them a combined $13 million.

A year later, in March 2023, four brokers were charged with defrauding professional athletes, and while prosecutors never named Jrue and Lauren as victims, details of the case matched their claims, the Times reported.

Lauren opened up about the racism Jrue faced

Ashley Landis-Pool/Getty

Following the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020, Lauren wrote an essay for The Players’ Tribune detailing the many instances of racism her husband has faced over the years.

The soccer star recalled a number of infuriating experiences, but noted that one in particular made her speak out. While driving with Jrue’s sister, Lauren was pulled over by a police officer only to realize she didn’t have her driver’s license with her. She called Jrue and asked him to bring it to her, and when he arrived, the police handcuffed him for no apparent reason.

“Although the officer knew in advance that Jrue was my husband, that he was coming to the scene and why. Although no one explained it to us why did they stop us in the first place. And though Jrue couldn’t have been more cautious, or more respectful, in his approach. All the officer saw was a large black man getting out of the car,” Lauren wrote.

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