Source: BG027/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for City of / Getty
Gloria Govan, Matt Barnes and her current fiancé Derek Fisher all came together, putting aside past issues, to celebrate the birthday of the former couple’s twin boys.
The boys, Carter and Isaiah, turned 12 recently (they were just toddlers on Basketball Wives!), and to mark the occasion, they were thrown a special birthday dinner which was attended by Govan, Barnes, as well as Fisher and his two kids Tatum and Drew. They even took this cozy family photo:
The moment is a pretty big deal when you consider that it was just a few years ago that Barnes physically assaulted his former teammate at the home of Govan. He did so after finding out that Fisher was dating her while they were separated. It came out when he and Govan rode together to take their sons to LA and her Bluetooth went off in the car and Fisher, whose voice he knew from their time playing together, was on the line saying, “Baby I miss you.” It also didn’t help that he found out she had their sons around Fisher and neither party told him.
“Just come to me. It’s a hard situation but come to me,” he said recounting the violent incident in a VLAD TV interview last November while sharing why he attacked Fisher.
“As soon as I turned into the backyard I see Derek with his arm around Gloria, so I just fired on him. Stuck him. I was on another planet that night,” he said. “I get into the house and we get around this little island and we’re kind of playing Tom and Jerry. Him, ‘No! We need to talk, we need to do this.’ Everybody’s screaming. ‘F–k that. You had your chance to talk to me, bro. We fighting.'”
Fisher, who didn’t speak much about the assault, did clear the air about his dealings with Govan in an essay saying, “Matt and Gloria [Govan] were not trying to work things out, and I certainly wasn’t seeing her behind Matt’s back or in secret. The relationship wasn’t something I was trying to publicize, but it also wasn’t something I was trying to hide, either. There was no reason to.”
The incident would not only have its consequences for Barnes and Fisher professionally, but it would also help make Barnes’s split from Govan and what would be a long custody battle between them even more contentious. Fisher would even intervene at times, which Barnes didn’t appreciate.
But signs that they were letting bygones be bygones first showed themselves when Barnes had positive things to say about their engagement in 2018.
“I have two beautiful boys from my ex we are both focussing [sic] on co-parenting & providing the best atmosphere & childhood for them!” he wrote on Instagram.
“They love him, so i love it,” he added. Despite not seeing eye to eye initially w Derek he & i are on the same page & communicate weekly about isaiah & carter..With that being said congrats on the engagement!”
