Greece’s #34 Giannis Antetokounmpo looks on during the men’s quarterfinal basketball match between Germany and Greece during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena in Paris on August 6, 2024. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
Greek-Nigerian NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and his long-term partner Mariah Riddlesprigger, the mother of his three children, tied the knot in Greece on Sunday according to media reports.
According to Greek media the ceremony was held at the luxury Costa Navarino resort near Pylos in the Peloponnese Sunday evening, the culmination of three days of festivities involving a white dress party on Friday and a Nigerian-themed bash on Saturday.
Antetokounmpo’s longtime friend and Milwaukee Bucks teammate Khris Middleton was the two-time NBA MVP’s best man in the “hybrid” Orthodox and Catholic ceremony, Skai TV reported.
NBA icon LeBron James and Greece national team coach Vassilis Spanoulis were reportedly among the around 200 guests in attendance, as well as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with his family.
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Nicknamed the “Greek Freak” and one of the country’s top global ambassadors, Antetokounmpo has reached the pinnacle of sporting success after overcoming a poverty-stricken childhood familiar to tens of thousands of migrant children growing up in Greece.
The son of Nigerian immigrants who arrived in Athens in 1991 seeking a better future, he was born and raised in working-class parts of the Greek capital, selling trinkets to make a living.
The Proto Thema newspaper website said the NBA star wanted his marriage to be absolutely private with no media coverage.
“Remarkably, everyone working on the wedding has signed a confidentiality agreement to ensure the couple’s complete privacy,” it said.