Stephen Curry posted a video to Instagram on November 11 with a message for two former Warriors. Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young had spent part of a podcast episode on his wife, Ayesha Curry. They talked about a kiss she shares with co-star Matthew Daddario in her new Roku Channel movie, Second Chance Holiday.
Arenas started with praise for Steph, calling him the definition of a father. Then he turned to Ayesha. “The only blemish in the family is the wife,” he said, according to Just Jared, explaining that she doesn’t act like other superstars’ wives. E! Online reported the episode aired November 7 and that Ayesha was compared to other NBA wives, including LeBron James’ wife, Savannah James.
Stephen Curry Responds to Podcast Comments About Ayesha
Steph opened calmly. He said the noise usually doesn’t bother him or Ayesha, but this time was different. Podcasters were building tapings around his wife and offering opinions on somebody else’s marriage.
He named names. Nick. Gil. Emmanuel.
Emmanuel Acho was the third name Stephen called out. E! Online reported that Acho and LeSean McCoy, both retired Philadelphia Eagles, had questioned on their Speakeasy podcast whether Ayesha took the role to get her husband’s attention.
Stephen Curry ended with a dry plug. He thanked them for the free publicity and told viewers where to stream the movie. His caption, per Glamour, reminded followers they don’t have to subscribe to every podcast. Matthew Daddario himself left a short comment under the video calling it a great response.
Ayesha’s own take was shorter. On X, with a crying emoji, she wrote: “It’s not even real you guys are annoying.”
What Stephen Curry Said About Women and Acting
The joke was the ending. The middle of the video was not a joke at all. Steph said the criticism pointed to something bigger, the way these men “view women in this world,” and what they think women are and aren’t allowed to do. He added a line about the ignorance behind how acting works.
Ayesha is 37. She was acting and modeling in Los Angeles when the two reconnected in 2008, years after meeting at church in Charlotte as teenagers. They married in 2011 and share four children. The kiss that started all this was a scripted scene in a holiday movie, her job.
Plenty of husbands in his position would have stayed quiet and let it pass. He is one of the most recognizable athletes alive, and staying above the noise has been his reputation. Arenas said as much later. So the decision to step in, in his own voice, with names attached, is the actual story. He didn’t defend the kiss. He defended her right to do the work without his peers grading her as a wife.
Fifteen years of marriage, and the public test came from former teammates with microphones.
Nick Young Apologizes, Gilbert Arenas Explains
Both men answered on Gil’s Arena, Arenas’ other podcast. Young went straight to an apology, telling Steph he loved him and would own anything he’d said, according to E! Online.
Arenas took a different route. He said Steph’s video proved his point, that Curry is a professional who never gets in trouble and always says the right thing. He repeated that if anyone had to judge the family, the only blemish was things Ayesha has said. Then he softened it, saying he didn’t mean it that way and was only trying to call Steph a perfect guy.
Steph had asked for an apology as loud as the shows that ran with the topic. One of the two came close. Acho and McCoy have not been reported to have responded.
Sources: Just Jared, E! Online, Glamour
