Meet Laura Govan, wife of NBA star Gilbert Arenas. Laura met Gilbert in 2001, when he was a second-round draft pick with the NBA Golden State Warriors and she was working in Public Relations for the NBA Sacramento Kings. After dating for two years, the pair decided to call it quits when Gilbert was traded to the Washington Wizards.
Even though they decided to go separate ways, the two stayed in touch. In 2005, Laura got pregnant. Gilbert was by her side when she delivered their daughter, Izela Semaya, in December 2005. As a result, things got messy regarding a custody and paternity dispute. Laura had lawyers try to serve Gilbert with a paternity suit during practices and a televised game; Arenas dodged the servers by calling in sick and traveling under aliases.
After this messy dispute, the couple reconciled again in spring 2006. On September 21st, 2008, Laura and Gilbert got enagaged.
Laura and Gilbert speak on how she proposed to him:
“I was thinking up ways to do it, you know, maybe I’ll do like an Easter egg hunt for the ring or something. But then it came to me, I was going to kick it back old school with a “Do you like me?” note that you would do in elementary school. Only, I couldn’t write the note, because that would be like me asking her. So I got my friend to write on a piece of paper “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” in big block letters with two boxes to check off, “YES” or “NO.” Then the final step was for him to write “(READ OUT LOUD)” at the top of the note. I folded it up and had it in my pocket. So there we are at dinner and all her family is there, my dad, her dad, her friends, my friends, Antawn Jamison showed up, Mos Def and a couple people from Mos Def’s crew showed up. At the end of the meal, in front of everybody, I tell her that I have one last gift for her. I told her, “This is my gift” and I handed her the note and I sit down. She opens the note and she reads it and she says, “Read out loud,” but sort of to herself under her breath because you know, you’re always going to read something to yourself before you blurt it out to the room. Then she reads silently, “Will you marry me?” Then she flipped the note over to see if there was anything written on the back and then looked at me weird. I said to her, “You have to read it out loud.” So she goes, “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” out loud so everybody could hear her. It worked. It turns out she ended up asking me to marry her. I was like, “Oh my God!!!” and started screaming like the girl who gets asked normally does. “I can’t believe you asked me!!!! Of course I will!!! Oh my God, it’s been six long years, what took you so long???!!!??? Oh my God!!! This is unbelievable!!!!” Everyone started cracking up and laughing. But we still had the ring to take care of. It’s not like I had it and was going to get down on one knee because first of all, I only have one good knee as it is, and second of all, she’s the one who asked me. But, I had to produce the ring. I had three Ring Pops ready with three plastic red Solo cups covering them up. I took her over to the cups and told her that whichever one she picks, that’s going to be her engagement ring. So she flips over one and it’s a cherry Ring Pop. She goes for the second one, it’s a grape Ring Pop. She flips over the third one, it’s watermelon. She’s looking at me like, “Where’s the real ring?!” but I just go, “Hey, no ring gets any better than that!” Everybody was laughing. But I had really given the ring to my son. So I go, “Give it to mommy,” and my son actually gave the ring to her. So, for the record, she asked me.”
Laura Govan is black, quarter Mexican, and Hawaiian. Laura has worked in the Public Relations Department for the NBA Sacramento Kings and has done some work for NBA superstar Shaquille O’neal.Laura says, “I love doing PR Work which I will continue to do in the future.” She adds, “Gilbert and I have a daughter and son. So now Im just enjoying being a mother, being there for my friends and family, and also being a support system to my man and bestfriend Gilbert.” The couple has two children together, daughter Izela Semaya and son Alijah Amani.
Gilbert Arenas is currently playing for the NBA Washington Wizards.
Forgive me if I am stating the obvious but Gilbert Arenas is very “strange”. The way he “proposed” or got his fiance to propose: The childish notion of proposing via school paper note; having another dude write note for him; giving instructions in the note requiring that his woman ask him for marriage; making her pick blow pop rings from plastic cups????? That was not very manly, frankly it was kind of weak. And the whole incident of Gilbert avoiding being served papers by “calling in sick and traveling under aliases” just shows how immature he really is.