When Karl Malone expressed remorse over mistakes as a father: "I didn't handle it right"
After 19 seasons of a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, Karl Malone retired after the 2003-04 season. He played 18 of those seasons with the Utah Jazz and one with the LA Lakers before hanging up his jersey.
As accomplished as Malone was on the basketball court, his real-life left some things and some people neglected. Here’s what “The Mailman” had to say in an interview back in 2018 on some of his grave mistakes as a father (via Deseret News):
“I made a mistake, they’re not a mistake, but being young myself and the responsibilities was overwhelming to me, but you just deal with it."
“I didn’t handle it right; I was wrong, but I’m not going to every time I see you try to go back and make up for it because you can’t,” he continued. “Father Time is the biggest thief that’s out there, and you can’t get that back.
“I’m not discussing any of that backlash. I don’t care. That’s my life, that’s my personal life, and I’ll deal with that like I’ve had to deal with everything. So, whatever.”
- Karl Malone on the backlash he has received after impregnating a 13-year-old girl at the age of 20… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/2M0hCHxY5i
Karl Malone has four children with his wife Kay Kinsey, a retired supermodel. They have been married for over 30 years. Kadee was born in 1991, Kylee in 1993, Karl Jr. or “K.J” in 1995 and the third daughter, Karlee in 1998.
The “mistakes” he was talking about how he treated his children with Bonita Ford and Gloria Bell.
Malone had twins with Ford, his high-school sweetheart, when they were yet 17 years old. He left them when he decided to play college basketball at Louisiana Tech. The two-time NBA MVP refused to acknowledge Cheryl and Daryl Ford until they were 8 years old when their mother filed a paternity suit.
Karl Malone and Bonita Ford eventually had an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed amount. The Utah Jazz legend and his eldest daughter eventually came to form a strong bond. He regularly contacted her when she was 17 years old and visited her during her Detroit Shock days in the WNBA.
Malone had this to say when asked about his decision to reach out to his twins:
"I take responsibility for it but sometimes you don't take it right then, sometimes you take it later. It don't make you a bad person."
One of Karl Malone’s kids, turned out to be 4x WNBA all star and 3x champ Cheryl Ford. He paid the mother of her and her twin brother in silence, but would not even acknowledge them on trips to his hometown. He didn’t acknowledge her or her brother until they were teenagers. https://t.co/dMYAjDzguQ
All is reportedly well between Karl Malone and Demetress Bell
The most shocking part of Karl Malone’s past life wasn’t fathering twins with Bonita Ford. His most appalling mistake was having a child with 13-year-old Gloria Bell. Malone was already a 20-year-old sophomore at Louisiana Tech when Demetress Bell was born.
Bell also filed a paternity suit against Malone, which the then-NBA star refused to acknowledge. Bell’s family pursued a $ 200-a-week support from the multi-millionaire but was downgraded to $120. Still, Malone refused.
Like what happened with the Fords, Karl Malone and the Bells agreed to an out-of-court settlement.
In 1983, Karl Malone [then aged 20] raped a 13-year old Gloria Bell and [for years] refused to acknowledge his paternity of the son she had as a result, even after a DNA test confirmed it. The child, Demetress Bell, went on and played 5 seasons in the NFL. espn.com/espn/page2/sto… https://t.co/WBfLnVBxn0
Demetress Bell earned his way to the NFL as an offensive lineman who was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 2008. When asked by the media about his relationship with his father, he revealed that Malone told him it was “too late” for a father-son relationship.
Since 2014, though, “Mechie” Bell and Karl Malone have been in contact nearly every day. The Utah Jazz icon has made Bell an avid hunting fan after spending a ton of time with his father outdoors. Bell’s kids adore “Paw Paw.”
Here's the full Karl Malone piece by Deseret News