Court War: Matt Barnes Fighting Ex-Wife 'Basketball Wives' Star Gloria Govan Over Alleged $267k in Back Child Support
Feb. 23 2024, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Ex-NBA star Matt Barnes denied his ex-wife Gloria Govan’s claim he owed $267k in back child support — and asked a court to enforce an alleged verbal agreement he had with the former Basketball Wives star.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, Barnes said he doesn’t owe his ex a dime. He claimed they reached a deal in November 2020 to reduce his child support obligations from $10k down to $4k — due to him paying for 100% of their twin sons’ private middle school tuition and extracurricular activities.
Barnes said, “I have upheld my end of the bargain. Despite this, Gloria still seeks in a bad faith effort to ‘double dip’ and secure an unjust and unwarranted windfall.”
In addition, the ex-NBA star said he recently learned that “for years Gloria has been using my AmEx card to book travel for herself.”
Govan with her new husband, Derek Fisher.
He told the court, “Each time she booked travel for herself on my AmEx, it appears she logged into my account and surreptitiously changed the email address to hers, then booked travel and received the confirmation at her email address, only to immediately change the email address on the account back to mine once she received her travel confirmation so that I would be none the wiser.”
Barnes said he estimated “that Gloria’s theft from me is to the tune of thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars.”
Barnes is fighting back in court.
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The ex-NBA star demanded Gloria be shut down in court.
As we first reported, last year, Govan dragged Barnes back court in their never-ending divorce battle. The exes share twin sons, Carter and Isaiah.
Govan and Barnes were married in 2013 and separated in 2015. The couple finalized their divorce in 2016.
They currently share joint custody of their children. During his time in the NBA, Barnes paid Govan $20k per month in child support.
They reduced the amount to $9,983 after he left the league. In recent court filings, Govan claimed Barnes started paying her $4k per month in 2020 — despite him owing $10k per month.
She claimed he told her he “didn’t want to pay” the court-ordered amount. Govan said she never agreed to a reduction and demanded $267k in back child support.
Barnes with his wife partner.
Govan said Barnes told her he was, “having a tough time with his girlfriend and her kids living with him, along with a new child coming, but there is no agreement to reduce support.”
A judge has yet to rule.