Candace Parker Just Announced The Birth Of Her Third Child With The Sweetest IG
Candace Parker just gained a new teammate at home. The former WNBA star just welcomed her third child into the world with her wife Anna Petrakova.
“Hartt Summitt Petrakov Parker❤️ May 21, 2024 Our Starting lineup is complete. We are so in love and grateful for our little brother,” Candace wrote on Instagram alongside some adorable family photos.
Obviously, Candace’s followers loved a peek at the newest edition. Singer John Legend commented several red heart emojis on the photos, and Actress Gabrielle Union wrote, “Congratulations 💫💫💫💖💖💖💖💖”
Here’s everything you need to know about Candace’s “home team.”
Candace has three kids.
She has a daughter and two sons. This is Candace’s second child with her wife, Anna. The pair has toddler Airr Larry, who is 2. Parker is also mom to Lailaa, 14.
In January, Candace shared an IG carousel of family photos and hashtagged it #MyReason:
Candace was previously married to Lailaa’s dad, Shelden Williams.
Candace's ex-husband Shelden Williams, is a former NBA player. The pair married in 2008 and separated in 2016, per Bleacher Report.
Shelden filed for divorce later that year, after a separation period, and the couple filed for joint custody of then-seven-year-old Lailaa. They cited irreconcilable differences in the court filing, per the outlet.
Candace secretly wed wife Anna in 2019.
Candace and Anna started as teammates—and then fell in love. They married in a quiet ceremony in 2019. Candance proposed on a family rip to Mexico and Lailaa held a cake that read “Will you marry us?”
“She knows that Lailaa is the center of my entire universe," Candace told TIME. "So we come in a package deal. It was important for the dynamic duo to be upgraded to the Big Three."
The couple kept their marriage quiet because of Russia’s anti-LBGTQ policies. (Candace and Anna met while playing basketball in Russia). At the time of their marriage, Russia was clamping down further on the LBGTQ movement, labeling it an “extremist organization,” per the Human Rights Watch. In Russia, participating in an extremist organization is punishable by up to 12 years in jail.
They eventually came out publicly for their children, Candiace shared with TIME.
“I always tell my daughter to be herself,” she said. “I always tell my daughter to be proud of who she is. And I always tell my daughter to speak for herself and speak up for those that she loves. And I can’t say that to her if I’m not doing it myself. I don’t want her to ever think that I’m ashamed or not proud of our family. That was a step that we had to take. But we had to take it on our own terms.”
Candace loves raising her children on the road.
While life on the road can be a challenge for some families, Candace embraces it.
"Lailaa went everywhere with me, and I don't think my tea, wherever I played, would want me without her. We used to always say we're a team, right?" Candance shared in a clip from the ESPN doc about her.
While some kids were building sand castles on the beach, Lailaa was learning to crawl at an away game with the Euro League.
Congratulations to the couple!
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