Jada Pinkett Smith has been in the news for all of the wrong reasons. While her relationship with Will Smith has been on the front pages, it is not the first time she has dated someone famous.
What basketball player did Jada date? Jada Pinkett Smith dated former NBA superstar Grant Hill, she revealed in a December 2018 interview that Hill was her first boyfriend.
Coming out of South Lakes high school in Virginia, Grant Hill was quickly emerging as one of the best high school basketball players in the 1990s. It led to a huge amount of exciting offers, including one to play for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Hill took this offer in hope of becoming a Duke legend.
His college career started perfectly for Grant Hill and Duke. His first season with the team brought huge success as Duke finally won their first NCAA title in their fifth final. Hill was not the star of that team, as it was Christian Laettner who led Duke to the title. Hill was still a good contributor and performed well in his freshman season.
A year later, Hill once again performed well as Duke won back-to-back titles thanks to some incredible performances from Christian Laettner. But as he was only in his sophomore season, Hill was quickly emerging as a star-studded talent and his role would expand in 1993 with Laettner being drafted.
As Hill’s role with Duke began to expand, he was getting more attention nationwide, not just from NBA teams. It was in 1993 that he met rising acting star Jada Pinkett. This was still very early in her acting career, with roles in shows like A Different World and 21 Jump Street.
It was at this early time in her career that she met Grant Hill while Hill was still at Duke. The pair began dating and a few years ago, she revealed that Hill was the first boyfriend Pinkett took home for the holidays. Their relationship was not public knowledge as it was before either of the pair reached their biggest stardom.
All of this was revealed in a 2018 interview for Pinkett’s Facebook show. The pair would date for two years as Hill was drafted third overall by the Detroit Pistons. There are very few details that we know about their relationship. But what we do know is that Pinkett met her future husband Will Smith in 1994 when she auditioned to be Smith’s girlfriend on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
After Hill and Pinkett broke up in 1995, she began dating Will Smith only a couple of years after and since then, Pinkett and Smith married in 1999 and have two children together as well as Pinkett being the stepmother of Trey Smith, Will’s son from a previous marriage.
Is Grant Hill Married?
A year after Hill and Pinkett Smith broke up, he was becoming a superstar with the Detroit Pistons and friends with some very famous people. One of those friends was singer Anita Baker, who set Hill up on a blind date. The date turned out to be with Canadian singer Tamia and the two got on very well.
They soon entered into a relationship and three years after first dating, the pair were married on the 24th of July, 1999 in Michigan. While they started off living in Detroit, Grant Hill soon signed a massive contract with the Orlando Magic to partner him with Tracy McGrady.
It meant that the pair relocated to Orlando. Their first daughter was born in 2002 and they had a second in 2007. They are still happily married today. The couple have been through some very difficult times with Tamia having a serious health problem.
In 2003, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis which is a condition that can affect the brain and spinal cord. MS is a lifelong condition caused by the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord being damaged, identified by Tamia having fatigue and numbness in her hands, feet and legs.
Thankfully for the pair, the condition is under control as the illness is in remission. Tamia does still occasionally experience controllable symptoms. Despite the illness, the pair still make many public appearances together and are very happy together by the looks of it.
What does Grant Hill do for a living?
Grant Hill is best known as a former NBA basketball player, who was elected into the hall of fame in 2018. Since retiring, he was expanded into many different business ventures, most
notably being a co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA.
If you were to ask Hill what he does for a living, his first answer would probably be a former NBA basketball player and for good reason. Hill made more than enough during his NBA career to never have to work again and he certainly deserved that money. After being drafted third overall by the Detroit Pistons, Hill went on to become an NBA star.
He developed into a brilliant all-around player often leading the Pistons in points, assists and rebounds. Hill became first-team all-NBA in 1997 as well as winning Co-Rookie Of The Year in 1995. These great performances brought massive attention in free agency in 2000 and
Eventually, Hill signed a huge contract with the Orlando Magic.
Sadly for Hill, the move to Orlando was a terrible one as a misdiagnosed ankle injury had huge effects on his play. Hill was not able to become the superstar fans thought he would, instead he finished his career as a solid player on a few different teams.
It still led Hill to huge career earnings. But this was not enough for Hill and he has since done a lot in his post-playing career. Hill was part of the group led by Tony Ressler to purchase the Atlanta Hawks in 2015. Currently, Hill also does broadcasting for various networks covering the NBA and NCAA as well as being a spokesperson for various brands like Nike, Fila and TAG Heuer.