Standing her ground. Maralee Nichols’ public relations consultant spoke out after Tristan Thompson confirmed he is the father of her newborn son.
“There was never any doubt that Tristan Thompson was the father of Maralee Nichols’ baby,” Harvey Englander told Us Weekly in a statement. “Tristan made numerous false and defamatory statements and declarations about Maralee over the past few months, and she is taking his contrite statement today in the context of all of those statements.”
The former personal trainer took legal action against the 30-year-old NBA star in June 2021, claiming they conceived a child in March. In an August 2021 filing, Nichols’ legal team provided alleged text messages from Thompson in which he told her he wouldn’t be “involved at all” with the child.
“Btw if you think having this baby is gonna make you some money. It’s completely wrong. You are aware that I’m retiring after this season. So in terms of support it will be whatever is required monthly for someone who’s unemployed,” he allegedly texted her. “You better off taking this 75k I’m offering cause you won’t get nothing near that with having a kid with a father who’s unemplyed [sic] All you will have is a baby with a father who has zero involvement with the child and a few hundred dollars of child support a month.”
In his Monday, January 3, statement, however, Thompson claimed he will be part of his newborn’s life.
“Today, paternity test results reveal that I fathered a child with Maralee Nichols. I take full responsibility for my actions,” the Sacramento Kings player wrote via Instagram Stories. “Now that paternity has been established I look forward to amicably raising our son.”
Thompson also apologized to Khloé Kardashian, the mother of his 3-year-daughter, True. While Nichols previously claimed that the basketball pro said he was single and “coparenting” when they met in 2020, Us confirmed that Thompson and Kardashian didn’t split until June 2021.
“Khloé, you don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve the heartache and humiliation I have caused you. You don’t deserve the way I have treated you over the years,” he wrote on Monday. “My actions certainly have not lined up with the way I view you. I have the utmost respect and love for you. Regardless of what you may think. Again, I am so incredibly sorry.”
Thompson is also the father of 5-year-old son Prince, whom he shares with ex Jordan Craig.
