Relationships Matter Live

Unmasking Stephen Jackson: From NBA Star to Devoted Family Man

• Chanel Scott and Josh Powell

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What does it entail to be a true man of influence? Unmask the inspiring journey of former NBA star, Stephen Jackson, as he gracefully transitions from a public figure to a devoted family man. Hear Stephen's candid conversations on his commitment to utilize his influence not for personal gain, but for the betterment of others. As someone who doesn’t claim the title of an activist, his actions narrate a different story. Meet the real Stephen Jackson, who values his family, relationships, and self-care as much as he does his passion for basketball.

Fatherhood comes with its fair share of trials and tribulations, and Stephen Jackson is no stranger to this fact. He shares his experiences, the lessons learned from past mistakes, and his determined journey towards being an active and present father. Listen as he talks about the challenges he faced during his NBA years—striving to ensure his presence was felt by his children, even when work kept him away. Relationships are at the center of his narrative—whether as a father, a husband, or a friend. Pull up a chair and join us for an enlightening conversation with Stephen Jackson as he unveils the man behind the famous facade, sharing wisdom and life lessons from his personal and professional journey.

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Relationships Matter by Chanel Scott

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Opposing experiences, a single woman and a married man, Chanel Scott, and Josh Powell, create a powerful and empathetic team, offering valuable insights and advice on navigating the complexities of romantic relationships and promoting healthier, more fulfilling connections.

Join Chanel and Josh as they unlock the secrets of successful relationships one conversation at a time.


Speaker 1:

Welcome to Relationships Matter, the podcast. I am Chanel Scott.

Speaker 2:

And I am Josh Powell.

Speaker 1:

We have a very special guest here with us today, Mr Stephen Statt Jackson Welcome.

Speaker 3:

Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 1:

We're excited to have you Overdo.

Speaker 2:

Well overdue, well overdue, well overdue. My brother man, super grateful to have you here. I'm gonna start with the easy question first the man, the husband, the father, the activist, the businessman, the hooper, the game changer. But outside of all of that, who is Stephen Jackson?

Speaker 3:

I love all those titles. I took activists out Because I don't want to diminish the work that Tameka, matter and those people do every weekend, every day. I was in situational. I was in situational. I had to ride for a close friend Same thing I do for you, so I don't consider that activism. They really do some real work that I wouldn't want to disrespect by saying I'm equal as them are, can have the same title. You know what I mean, but I appreciate it For me.

Speaker 3:

I'm somebody who Emotions. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. You know how I'm feeling by my face, but I just can't hide the way I feel because I'm passionate about my opinions. I'm passionate about people. I'm passionate about doing right, seeing people doing right. I'm passionate about standing up for people when they're getting bullied. I'm passionate about a lot of things that people with success wouldn't normally speak on, especially publicly, and I'm somebody who stands up for all races. But I'm pro-black than a motherfucker. You know what I'm saying. Excuse my language, but that's just who I am.

Speaker 3:

I just love heart in so many different ways and a lot of different aspects that people won't understand, because I can be a basketball player one day. Then I can be in a neighborhood giving back to 29 states on my own dime, then I can show up on a do-it-pick podcast and I can go coach a basketball. I can do all these things. So I never limit it myself, but I always lead with my heart and I think that's why the favor of God has always protected me to continue to be successful. So it ain't really nothing I'm doing besides believing in myself. I'm just relying on that favor to continue to protect me, because I made a lot of mistakes where I shouldn't even been here, as you know. So just that favor. I'm just trying to continue to wake up every day and show how I deserve these blessings, because I know I could have messed it up a long time ago.

Speaker 2:

No, absolutely. And a beautiful response and I love how you framed it and how you talked about what you do for so many others. But what does stack do for stack? You know what I'm saying. What are the things that you're doing to grow, to elevate as we transition into relationships, because the biggest relationship is with yourself, right?

Speaker 3:

You know what? That's a good question, bro. I spend so much time with other people I can't even answer that, to be honest, because my whole, especially as a man like if you are a protecting provider, you might go walk out the house one day and see some people that you just bump into, but you're going to take on a role. Yeah, I'll do this for you, not even knowing you're taking on another role as a man, just trying to help somebody else, and we do that a lot, and I think that's a good question. But I think I'm caught up in that Because I don't do nothing for myself besides pray. I think that's the only thing I do for myself.

Speaker 2:

What up bro?

Speaker 3:

That's a good question. I think I'm so focused on the people that's relying on me. You know what I'm saying my mom, I just lost my little brother and my little sister back in the back months at the end of last year. So I'm seeing so many people my brother's wife, his kids. I'm seeing so many people going through it, and you know what I'm saying and like God has really blessed me, bro, so I'm just trying to be there for them. You know what I'm saying. I ain't had time to that's a good question, Bob. I've never been asked that I can't answer. I wouldn't even lie to you. I can't answer because I don't know what I do for myself besides pray.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the reason why I ask? Because I feel like there's so many men that's in your position, right, we rip and we run and we chase and we doing all these things for everybody else and then we don't eat. You know what I mean. And when you look up, especially us as black men, it's like our life expectancy is getting lower and lower and lower. And that's the reason why I ask you know what I mean, because you so so much love to so many people, bro, but, like, what is that really doing? Have taken a break to just focus, like man, what am I doing for me? You know what I mean. That's not related to pouring into someone else or another situation, so that's why I wanted to give you that. Maybe it's something we can tap into later on as we keep moving in this conversation.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, because I can't answer that, bro, and you know, maybe that's something I need to do because I know it ain't material. You know what I'm saying? It has to be something else, because I don't have dance, I don't Word.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Well, I have a question. As you pour into so many other people, who's pouring into you?

Speaker 3:

My family. I have a strong support system. I can't even lie, I got a strong support system. You know we all, like I said, we all going through it right now as far as losing my little brother and my little sister. But I've always had a close family, like my mom and her sisters. They get together every Saturday, cook. So I was able to go home this past weekend and see my family and friends.

Speaker 3:

So but I mean as a man and you know, as being a breadwinner to a family, people, especially a family, they don't want to overstep. So you could, I could, definitely use more support, but as a man you don't ask for that Because you know that's kind of like showing the sign of weakness. And why do you feel that way? Because my grandfather never did it, so I. So I follow his footsteps. That's why I'm so I got his name, jesse Jackson. That's my middle name, that's his name, jesse Jackson.

Speaker 3:

So I seen him open the first business, a restaurant for my family. I seen him raise seven kids and eight grandkids all in one house. You know, I've seen him the strongest man possible. My grandmother died in the 80s. She's never had a job at drove a car. My grandfather took care of her whole life.

Speaker 3:

So I've seen what a man can do and what a man's supposed to do Right, and he did. It made it look easy. So I've been able to do that. You know what I'm saying. It's been ups and downs but for the most part I made it look easy, bro, and that's all you know. It wants to get going back to the favor of God dog. So I it's, it's, it's just me trying to try my best to follow the footsteps of somebody who I know is righteous right, because there's so many examples I had not to follow, especially today. I know somebody who I know was righteous, who went to church every day, who got up every morning and prayed, and him and my grandmother said everyone, and they grant you a name and they pray every morning. So that's what I've seen. So I'm just trying to even though I'm not close to him, you know, get emotional, I'm not close to him, but I'm trying my best to follow the footsteps.

Speaker 1:

Well, you were recently married, right.

Speaker 3:

I got married. This will be. You'll be two years in December.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and being a professional basketball player, like, how did you know that this woman was the one for you?

Speaker 3:

For trial and error. Okay, so many mistakes. Talk about that I have seven kids by five different women and you know I would honestly wouldn't be a man if I wouldn't say three of those situations went wrong because I was living the wrong life. Right, just mistakes I learned from being young, coming from nothing and having everything and not being taught you know, not having a father figure in the house of what to expect.

Speaker 3:

I made those mistakes and I'm glad I made them, because you know what I'm saying. I'm glowing now, but those mistakes hurt a lot of people. It includes me, you know. Not being able to be there, I didn't live with none of my kids except my youngest. But my two of my kids I raised. My two oldest I raised until they mom, until I started making money and she took them from me and because she wanted a child support, and so I ended up. That ended up severing my relationship with my two oldest, where my birthday was on September 2nd and 4th. And this out of the relationship is, you know, I'm always keeping real with you.

Speaker 3:

The one my second youngest. She just turned 23. She kind of her mom kind of turned on me her whole life. But I still been there, I still be around, I still do what I can, but her sister that lives in the same house, the oldest daughter, is my best friend. So that bothers me. I don't understand where that went wrong. You know what I'm saying. I don't understand how that went wrong. I'm raising both of y'all, but how the? So you know I'm still dealing with the relationships with one out of my seven. I have two boys, one freshman at Arizona mother, son is a senior high school.

Speaker 3:

But I just learned a lot, man. I made a lot of mistakes and I own up to them, because I don't ever want my kids to think that I'm demeaning their mothers in a way when I speak about the things that I've done for them. Right, because a lot of times not being there they'll make it seem like you're totally absent, when that's not true, because the same reason for my absence is the money that you wanted. Right, Because a lot of those situations, you know, even with my wrong, a lot of those situations came to a head with evilness and that's, just being honest, one more than you deserve. And I think for my kids it hurt them a lot, you know.

Speaker 3:

But I stayed at it. I kept paying child support even though I wasn't there, and I learned a lot, you know I learned a lot. I kept doing my job. It was frustrating and when people don't know, not even women, but bad parents can period, don't know how that hurts a parent who's actually trying. Right, I lived five minutes from my father till I was 15, never came to my house, never nothing.

Speaker 3:

So I didn't wanna be that. You know what I mean. Even though I wasn't with them, I made sure that my presence was felt. So now today I'm going on two years maybe I've been with my wife for going on 10 years and she has a daughter who's in her first year of college, who I've raised since she was in fifth grade and I got everything right with her. My nine year old scholar, as you know. I got everything right with her because I made so many mistakes in the past that I own up to I'm not running from, and so if I had to make those mistakes and be an idiot the time I was in the NBA to be a great father now to the ones that I have a relationship with now, I wouldn't change it. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

When we get back. I wanna talk about you know that transition because you spoke about your experiences. But as we know, brother, because we're athletes and we see a lot what went into you picking your partner. So we'll talk about that when we get back. Relationships matter. The podcast.

Speaker 3:

Okay, we're clear, you're almost aiming.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so much, it's an asset.