Charles Barkley, 60, led an impressive career on the basketball court when he played professionally, but it turns out he’s also had another very important role in his life: being a dad! The retired athlete shares one child, daughter Christiana Barkley, 34, with his wife Maureen Blumhardt, and they’ve both raised her to become an impressive woman. Although the beauty has chosen to live a mostly private life that’s away from her famous father’s spotlight, she has been seen various times over the course of his career, and now spends most of her days with her built family.
Find out more about Christiana below.
Christiana is Charles and Maureen’s only child together. She was born in 1989, the same year they were married. Charles previously confirmed that his daughter’s first name was inspired by Christiana Mall in Delaware, in an episode of his podcast with TNT host Ernie Johnson, The Steam Room. “There’s a Christiana Mall in Delaware that I used to always go by. That’s how she got her name, Christiana,” he said. When Ernie asked him, “Why?,” he hilariously answered, “I don’t know. I just like the mall.”
After growing up with her doting parents, Christiana attended Columbia University in New York City, where she lives, and graduated in 2017. She earned a Master’s degree in Journalism and now works as a New York-based journalist. She recently worked for Koppelman Group as the senior account manager and director of writing, and reportedly worked for Turner Sports as a sales assistant between 2011 and 2014.
As for her personal life, Christiana got married to Ilya Hoffman, the founder of DemandByte, a marketing technology company in New York, in Scottsdale, AZ in March 2021. Charles told The New York Times that the wedding weekend was “the best weekend of my life,” and he and Maureen danced the night away with the other guests. After their marriage, Christiana and Ilya welcomed a son Henry.
The loving new mother and the tot appeared in a segment on NBA on TNT in 2022 to playfully roast Charles about previously saying “playing an NBA game with a sprained ankle” was more “painful” than childbirth. “I just want to say that a sprained ankle is a spa treatment compared to giving birth to an actual baby,” she said while holding her son. “And an NBA game is 48 minutes and some women, myself included, are in labor for 48 hours, so just wanted to clear that up. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
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