Former NBA player turned popular sports analyst Jalen Rose has filed for divorce from his wife of almost three years, Molly Qerim.
TMZ is reporting that the couple has been separated for a year. In a statement, Rose said, “We both agree remaining friends and colleagues is the best course of action for our relationship moving forward.”
The site is reporting that official divorce documents were filed on April 30, 2021, just months after the couple starred in a Gatorade commercial together.
Rose and Qerim first went public with their relationship in June 2016, then were married in New York in July 2018.
TMZ reports that they do not have a prenuptial agreement, but Qerim is not seeking spousal support.
Both Qerim and Rose work at ESPN. Rose became a contributor at ESPN in 2007, and has been a studio analyst for NBA Countdown, SportsCenter and more. He is also the creator of Three Tier Entertainment, which produces projects for film, television and the web, per his ESPN bio. Qerim has been a host of First Take since September 2015, a popular show also starring Stephen A. Smith that features guests who often debate sports news, opinions and the occasional hot takes. Qerim acts as the moderator.
As Rose noted in his statement, the two appear to have remained on good terms. In June, in the wake of the passing of his mother, Qerim tearfully talked about how she and her husband had lost five family members in the past year. The conversation sparked a larger discussion about athletes and mental health.
In 2011, Rose established the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter high school in his native Detroit which “gives students a leadership-focused education based upon real-world, project-based experiences within the career context of sports and entertainment.” In 2013, the Detroit News named him Michiganian of the Year.
Rose played in the NBA for 13 seasons and, before that, was a member of one of the most talked-about college basketball teams of all time: the Fab Five at the University of Michigan in the early 1990s. His TTE production company produced the 2011 documentary about the team, which aired on ESPN. It remains the network’s highest-rated documentary ever.
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