Giannis Antetokounmpo attends “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey” World Premiere on February 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Photo:Kevin Mazur/Getty
Kevin Mazur/Getty
Giannis Antetokounmpois opening up about his family’s decision to tell the story of their journey from Nigeria to Greece, and then to Milwaukee, with the world.
Antetokounmpo, 29, is the subject of Prime Video Sports' new documentary,Giannis: The Marvelous Journey,and the NBA star tells PEOPLE that sharing his family’s story firsthand was a decision they all came to together.
“I talked to my brothers, talked to my mom and Mariah, to see if we were okay and willing to share our story with the world, and we came to this decision as a family,” he explains.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and his mother Veronica attend premiere of new documentary from Prime Video Sports.Kevin Mazur/Getty
But having some of his “darkest moments” retold secondhand was frustrating for Antetokounmpo and his family, which helped them decide to recount vulnerable moments like the death of his father,Charles Antetokounmpo, and the days when his brothers lived “in fear” as immigrants, for the Prime Video Sports documentary.
“There’s been a lot of people that have shared their version of our story, but we felt like this was our time to open up about our dad, our foundation, our journey and do it in our way.”
The Bucks star adds, “It was time for us to go out there and share this like I said, our way. That’s one thing that I’m very, very happy about — it’s our way.”
Beyond taking back control of his life story, Antetokounmpo says he’s “going to be proud to show my kids this film so they can see our story.” He and Riddlesprigger sharethree childrentogether — sons Liam, 3, and Maverick Shai, 2, plus their daughterEva Brooke, born in September 2023.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Mariah Riddlesprigger attend “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey” World Premiere on February 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Kevin Mazur/Getty
But when it came time to sit down for cameras, Antetokounmpo says it was difficult to “go back to” some of the “darker things” his family experienced.
“You don’t want to go back there because there are just some things that are hard to talk about,” he says, and while it’s one thing to “say it at all” while reliving hard memories, “sharing it with the world is also hard,” he says. “We don’t know how the world is going to take it. I’ve never opened up about my father to anybody. So it’s good, but it’s also hard.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo attends “Giannis: The Marvelous Journey” World Premiere on February 17, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Kevin Mazur/Getty
Antetokounmpo says Lappas “did a very good job of making everybody open up, because we don’t really do that, especially to a stranger,” when the family sat down for their interviews.
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Lappas tells PEOPLE thatGiannis: The Marvelous Journeyis really “the story of a strong family” rather than a documentary about a basketball player.
“The family has been apprehensive to tell their story in a documentary, they’re very private, but we were able to really go there on their complicated relationship with Greece, with their dad’s passing which he had never opened up about, and I feel like this just shows a different side of him.”
Giannis: The Marvelous Journeyis now streaming on Prime Video.
source: people.com
