Widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan has spent decades of time in the spotlight — yet he tends to keep his family life on the private side.
The former Chicago Bulls player is a father of five and a grandfather of one. Through his first marriage to Juanita Vanoy, he has three older children: Jeffrey, 36, Marcus, 34, and Jasmine, 32, who are all involved in the business side of basketball and their dad’s Air Jordan line. He also welcomed twin daughters Victoria and Ysabel, 10, in 2014 with his current wife Yvette Prieto.
The NBA legend’s status wasn’t always apparent to his children. In a 2020 interview on Good Morning America, Jasmine explained how she first came to realize just how well-known her father was.
“I had kids and teachers and stuff at school telling me ‘It’s incredible your father is who he is.’ And I’m thinking you all haven’t met my father to my knowledge, how do you know this? So I did, I Googled him. And I found a lot clearly,” she shared.
“I had that conversation with my father afterward and he just laughed and was like, ‘Hey, there’s no way to really tell you anything like that,’ ” Jasmine added. “But between him and my mom, they made sure that we felt like he was normal as can be and we grew up very normal and for that I’m grateful.”
Here’s everything to know about Michael Jordan’s five children.
Jeffrey Jordan, 36
Jordan and Vanoy welcomed their first child, a son named Jeffrey Michael, on Nov. 18, 1988.
Growing up, Jeffrey was raised in a “competitive atmosphere.” He spoke about his upbringing during a 2020 appearance on Good Morning America.
“He was tough and it was competitive,” Jeffrey said of his famous dad. “We always felt like the competitive atmosphere shaped us in a way that was for the better and got us prepared for what we were gonna face in the real world. We embraced it, but the switch was on.”
He added that the 2020 ESPN documentary, The Last Dance, which chronicled the Bulls’ 1997-98 season, allowed him to see his father in a new light.
“We got to see him when he came home and he was done with work — but being able to see him in his element, in his atmosphere with the team and see all the ups and downs of that season has been a treat to watch,” he shared.
Jeffrey followed in his father’s footsteps and pursued basketball from a young age. He enrolled at the University of Illinois in 2007, as a psychology major, and played as a preferred walk-on on the basketball team.
In June 2009, he announced he would be leaving the basketball team, but returned for the 2009-10 season, per ESPN. The following season, he transferred to the University of Central Florida where he played alongside his younger brother Marcus.
He currently works on the business side of the game, leading digital brand innovation for the Jordan label. On May 25, 2019, he married wife Radina Aneva.
Marcus Jordan, 34
On Dec. 24, 1990, Jordan and Vanoy welcomed their second child, son Marcus James.
Like his older brother, Marcus played basketball in high school and went on to play in college as well. He played at the University of Central Florida from 2009 until August 2012, when he left the team. He graduated in 2013 with a degree in hospitality management.
In May 2016, Jordan opened Trophy Room, a high-end sneaker store in Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs shopping district. In 2019, the physical location closed and transitioned to an online-only business, per the Orlando Sentinel.
Marcus has been linked to Larsa Pippen, the ex-wife of his dad’s Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen, since 2022. Though Pippen said the two were “just friends” in October 2022, by January 2023, a source told PEOPLE that the pair were “happy and dating.” They were first spotted kissing in Miami before they went Instagram official with their relationship on Jan. 23, 2023.
Jasmine Jordan, 32
Jordan and Vanoy welcomed their third child together, daughter Jasmine, on Dec. 7, 1992.
While studying sports management at Syracuse University, she met her future husband Rakeem Christmas, who played on the school’s basketball team. Jasmine and Christmas welcomed their son, Rakeem Michael Christmas, on May 4, 2019, making Jordan a first-time grandparent.
During an interview on Today, Jordan said he was enjoying his time as a grandparent. “It’s fun because I can actually hold him and play with him and I’m having fun watching him,” he said.
However, as Jasmine told Essence shortly after Rakeem’s birth, the NBA star had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the title “Grandpa.”
“He had to warm up to [it],” the mom of one explained. “At first he wanted my son to call him ‘Mike’ or ‘Michael’ and I’m like, ‘Dad, we’re not doing this. You have to accept the grandpa title. It is what it is.’ “
Though she doesn’t play basketball herself, she’s still connected to the sport. According to a 2018 InStyle profile, she has worked as a field representative in sports marketing for Nike’s Jordan line and also as a basketball operations coordinator for the Charlotte Hornets basketball team, which is owned by her father.
“You know what, my dad is just like me: very much a homebody and has always been a private person. He just so happened to have chosen a profession that was made for the public eye,” she told the outlet about her father. “And honestly I think if he could’ve had his same career without the fame, he’d probably still do it. You won’t catch him in New York City or L.A. unless it’s for business.”
Jasmine appeared on the March 2023 cover of Footwear News. In a corresponding interview, she talked about her role at the Jordan Brand and discussed the NCAA’s new policy, which allows college athletes to profit off of themselves. She said that if the new rules had come into effect during her father’s college basketball career, he could have stood to make a lot of money.
“Looking at his Funko Pop collectibles or the fact that people still wear his UNC jersey, to reap the benefits from it today, we’re talking making trillions at this point,” Jasmine said.
Victoria and Ysabel Jordan, 10
Just a few months after Jordan and his longtime girlfriend Prieto wed, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child together. On Feb. 9, 2014, Prieto gave birth to identical twin daughters, Victoria and Ysabel.
“Yvette and the babies are doing well and the family is overjoyed at their arrival,” a spokeswoman for the couple told PEOPLE at the time.
The couple are extremely private about their daughters and have not shared any images of them.
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