“Not Everything’s A Joke” — Eddy Curry Gets Candid About The Murder Of His Ex-Girlfriend And Daughter

Written By: @dawnnnyy_

The moment you realize you need something is silently powerful. That one or many moments, that sort of

“epiphany” happening, is not talked about enough. It could be one of the happiest and/or saddest moments of your life. Eddy Curry, former professional basketball player, wrote an endearing story for The Players Tribune sharing his moments, the struggles of his life on and off the court that helped shaped the man he is today.

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On January 24, 2009, Curry was away at a game in Philly. Mid-game, Curry was called to the locker room. Moments later, his assistant revealed that his 10-month-old daughter Ava and her mother, Curry’s lover and Ryan Henry of Black Ink Chicago sister, Nova Henry, were murdered. He was also told their 3-year-old son, Noah witnessed the tragic event.

Along with this tragedy came to what most would consider, the end of his marriage, as his wife, Patrice, did not know of his affair or the fact that he had two young children by her.

“I kept it a secret. All of it. For years. So as I’m on the phone learning that my infant daughter and her mother had just been murdered… I’m also coming to grips with the fact that my marriage of nearly four years would most certainly be over,” he wrote. “I just stood there bawling my eyes out about…everything.”

According to Curry, Noah tried to wake up his mom after the shooting and had blood all over him when the police arrived.

“Noah hadn’t been able to wake up his mom or his sister and probably thought they were sleeping, so he went to sleep too.”

The prime suspect in the investigation was Henry’s child support lawyer; she had been dating him. Ironically, he brought a gun to Ava’s baby shower since he viewed Curry as a threat. But as Curry wrote, he saw no threat. And now he’s hearing that this guy murdered Nova and his daughter.

“Living, breathing human begins just..gone.”

At the time, in the public eye, Eddy Curry was a joke. Quite possibly one of the laughing stocks of the NBA. A 4th round draft pick turned “broke and invaluable.” Yet at home, he was grieving, dealing with loss, and fighting for his marriage.

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In time, Patrice was able to forgive Eddy. She even attended both of the funerals by her husband’s side. Noah is 14 now and Patrice loves him as if he is her own.

“You cannot tell Patrice that Noah is not her son. She would sacrifice everything for him without thinking twice. It’s not even a question. He calls her Mom.”

It is the big, the small, the low and the high moments in life that force you to realize what you want and who you are. For Eddy, it were these.

“ ‘As a father – as a man – you’re responsible for the children you bring into the world. I have other children. I have to look out for them and make sure nothing like this ever happens again to anyone I love,” he wrote. “I can tell you for a fact that being a dad is the best job I’ve ever had.”

“After so many years of screwing up and showing poor judgement over and over again, I can finally say in all honesty that things really are different. I finally got to a point where I felt like, ‘Man, I’m just tired of hurting Patrice.’”

In reference to the media, “when I for some reason get sucked into the comments section online and end up seeing some of the stuff people sit; say about me all these years later, all I have to do is look across the room at my children, or at Patrice, and I instantly realize the difference between what’s not important… and what is.”