Keri Hilson Reveals What She Learned Dating Pro Athletes
Keri Hilson Calls Dating Pro Athletes ‘The Underworld’ — Then Shares The One Relationship Rule Every Woman Should Live By - Page 3
If Keri Hilson could offer one piece of advice to celebrity women dating professional athletes, it would be simple: 'never abandon yourself.' Here's what she told The Shade Room about her philosophy.
If Keri Hilson could offer one piece of advice to celebrity women dating professional athletes, it would be simple: “never abandon yourself.” The “Knock You Down” singer sat down with The Shade Room’s Thembi Mawema on Aug. 11 for an honest conversation about her life and career, and during the interview, she reflected on her past relationship with former NBA star Serge Ibaka, whom she dated from 2012 to 2016.
Naturally, the conversation turned to the growing number of R&B stars and professional basketball players currently making headlines as couples, including Coco Jones and Donovan Mitchell, as well as GloRilla and NBA star Brandon Ingram. Asked what advice she would give women navigating that particular relationship dynamic, Hilson chose her words carefully.
Here’s why Keri Hilson says celebrity women should ‘never abandon’ themselves when dating athletes.
She wished the women well but also offered a candid warning about one of the unique challenges that can come with dating professional athletes: the constant access to sexual temptation.
“First of all, I wish them all the best…The only advice I would give is…what some of these athletes live is what I coined ‘the underworld.’ Which is a lot of access to random, meaningless sex,” the 43-year-old singer told The Shade Room’s Thembi Mawema. “And a lot of advances by some of the world’s most beautiful women. And they get that treatment everywhere they go. Every hotel they check in, they get numbers from flight attendants and waitresses—everywhere they go, it’s being literally thrown at them.”
Hilson encouraged women to remain “strong” and protect their “peace” if their relationships become difficult.
“But also, never negotiate—never abandon yourself. I don’t care how much you love them. If they are partaking in those activities, and it rubs your spirit wrong, know that you can leave. Know that it’s not the best that you can do…Never believe that. If someone is crossing your boundaries, crossing lines that you have clearly stated, you don’t have to put up with that.”
Still, Hilson stressed that she hopes the women currently dating athletes won’t have to experience the same challenges she faced.
“I really hope that’s not what’s going on. I really do. But I understand that these certain people have a lot of access, and it’s really difficult for them sometimes to not partake, ever.”
Hilson also acknowledged another layer of the dynamic: women who knowingly pursue athletes who are already in public relationships. In her view, some of those women “dont care.”
“They find their value, in a twisted way, in what that man is willing to risk for them. And it’s sick,” she told Mawema. “It’s a sickness. But they don’t even really want the man. They just want to know that they can compare to you. So you see that a lot. It’s a game they play, and it’s really about them not knowing their worth and them trying to find that through what that man is willing to risk for them.”
Hilson added, “You’re married, you’re wearing your ring. They do not care. These women do exist, and they go after those athletes, especially the popular ones and even the non-popular ones get a lot thrown at them. It’s a tough world to be in, and I did not enjoy it. I’ll just say that.”
Her comments come years after her own relationship with Ibaka ended.
It remains unclear exactly what led to the couple’s split, but Hilson previously opened up about some of the challenges she experienced during her relationship with Serge Ibaka. During a 2025 appearance on Cam Newton’s Funky Friday podcast, she said she noticed warning “signs” about 10 months into dating the Toronto Raptors alum, signs she believes should have prompted her to “leave quicker.”
The couple also had a seven-year age gap, which Hilson said presented its own challenges.
Looking back, her message appears to be less about professional athletes specifically and more about maintaining your sense of self inside any relationship.
Love can be powerful. Attraction can be powerful. And temptation can be everywhere.
But for Hilson, there is one line that should never be crossed: Never abandon yourself.
