Actress and TV personality La La Anthony recently revealed that she doesn’t plan on getting a name change anytime soon. The Power actress got divorced from her longtime ex-husband Carmelo Anthony in 2021. However, she’s keeping the last name since said she’s looking forward to rocking her son, Kiyan Anthony’s jersey if his aspirations to play for the NBA come to fruition.
“Being able to buy Kiyan’s NBA jersey will be crazy,” La La told Page Six. “That’s why I haven’t changed my last name yet,” La La said. “I’m gonna keep it around for a little while!”
Kiyan, 17, is following his father’s footsteps and working towards becoming an NBA player. Carmelo played for the Knicks for seven seasons and Kiyan is also a promising talent. He currently plays for Long Island Lutheran High as a shooting guard. His talents are being noticed since he’s also currently ESPN’s top-ranked high school basketball player in the state of New York. La La also added that watching her only child head to the NBA is a different experience to supporting her ex-husband during his career.
“It’s different when it’s your kid,” she shared. “It’s just a whole different ball game. It feels like a brand new journey that I’m going on with him.”
While Kiyan is gifted he isn’t interested in the limelight according to his mom who defined him as “humble” during the Page Six interview.
“It’s amazing how grounded he has been able to be through it all because I couldn’t imagine growing up with parents that were in the spotlight or like … people wearing [Carmelo’s] jersey and people going crazy everywhere he goes,” she said.
Lala and Kiyan have always been a tight-knitted mother-son duo and publicly declare their love for one another often. They even recently took a trip to Japan to explore the culturally-rich country together. The quality time was necessary considering Kiyan will be heading off to college next fall. The basketball player is currently deciding which college to attend; he narrowed down multiple offers to 6 with one being the college his father attended (Syracuse)
La La has expressed how much of an adjustment it will be to have her son gone and transition into life as an empty nester.
“I’m having a hard time with that. I’m going to be honest with you,” she said to ESSENCE during an interview earlier this year. “I try not to think about it even though I know it’s there. Kiyan and I spend an incredible amount of time together. I always say my son is my best friend. We do a lot together. But I just think about when he does go to college, how it is going to be different. And I understand now when parents go through that, it is a tough transition. So I’m just trying to get all the time I can now and just preparing myself.”
