NBA superstar LeBron James, 39, wed his high school sweetheart, Savannah James, on Sept. 14, 2013, at the Grand Del Mar Hotel in San Diego.
After 11 years of marriage, the co-stars of Netflix’s “Starting 5” documentary series remained committed to each other.
The couple first met through mutual friends during their teenage years. However, Savannah was involved with other boys before she began dating LeBron.
On the latest episode of her “Everybody’s Crazy” podcast with co-host April McDaniel, Savannah, 38, discussed her pre-LeBron dating life.
A 14-year-old viewer called into the show to get advice from Savannah and April about “boy problems, really bad.” The caller asked about still being attracted to an ex-boyfriend who started dating her female friend after their relationship ended.
April recommended the 14-year-old girl to “up your standards.” She then suggested the caller tell the boy that they needed to go their separate ways for a year because both of them were “tripping.”
“Can’t relate,” Savannah stated about being a 14-year-old girl and in love. “I had all the boyfriends at 14.”
She added, “I had boyfriends, and I also had boyfriends that was just friends, but I dated one at one time. It was raggedy and janky. It’s OK. I was 14. It didn’t matter. I was 14. I was learning myself.”
YouTube commenters also reacted to the teenage caller’s relationship dilemma. One person simply asked, “Did that girl say 14?”
Another person wrote, “On and off at the age of 14??? I didn’t date until I was in my senior year of high school. OMG.”
A third person commented, “[I] was absolutely not expecting the girl who had been in an ‘on and off again’ relationship for five years to be 14 years old. Girl, where your parents at? LMFAO.”
Savannah reportedly was 16 years old when she met LeBron. The 17-year-old basketball player was a nationally known phenom at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, at the time.
“We have been down since high school,” LeBron stated about his connection to Savannah during a speech at the Harlem’s Fashion Row gala in 2018, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The four-time NBA champion added, “Savannah was with me shooting in the gym when I [had] absolutely nothing.” Those comments by LeBron referenced Drake’s “Stay Schemin’” lyrics.
Drake suggested that fellow NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s then-estranged wife, Vanessa, did not deserve a large sum in a divorce settlement because Kobe’s on-court skills built his fortune.
A recent sit-down on the “Tamron Hall” show included Savannah reflecting on overcoming the problems of working from a “glass half empty” perspective in life.
“I think it was an acknowledgment, knowing that sometimes I felt depleted and I wasn’t being the best version of a mother, of myself, to my husband,” Savannah explained to Hall.
She continued, “It was just hard to be fully present. So, I started to disappear. This was during the [COVID-19 pandemic]. My kids were good. [LeBron] was good, somewhere doing something, and I would disappear into my bathroom.”
Some social media users questioned if Savannah’s remarks on “Tamron Hall” were a subtle admission of unproven rumors that LeBron had been unfaithful during their marriage.
Savannah and LeBron went on their first date to Outback Steakhouse in 2002. Apparently, the future Los Angeles Laker returned her leftovers after the outing.
“I’d totally forgotten about them, and he brought them to me. I think he just wanted another excuse to come and see me,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2010.
On Oct. 6, 2004, Savannah gave birth to LeBron “Bronny” James, Jr. Three years later, the couple’s second son, Bryce Maximus, arrived on June 14, 2007.
After getting married in September 2013, LeBron and Savannah welcomed their first daughter, Zhuri Nova, on Oct. 22, 2014.
