Habiba Abdul-Jabbar – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Ex-Wife, Revealed Divorce Reasons

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a massive name in the NBA world. The NBA star played 20 seasons in the NBA for Milwaukee Bucks and LA Lakers. Furthermore, honored as the greatest of all time, Kareem retired as the all-time leader in points scored field goals made, and career wins.

Besides enjoying a successful career and philanthropic activities after retiring, Kareem had gone through some beautiful relationships and personal growth. Among Jabbar’s several relationships, today, we will be looking into his baby mama of three kids, Habiba Abdul-Jabbar.

Born As Janice Brown

It is a very lesser known fact that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s ex-wife, Habiba Abdul-Jabbar, was born in a Christian family as Janice Brown. Rose to fame as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s baby mama, she chose life away from media scrutiny after separation.

However, Janice changed her religion and name before marrying the basketball legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was also born as Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. Both Jabbar and his ex-wife, Habiba’s names were chosen by his Muslim spiritual leader, Hamaas Abdul-Khaalis.

Although Janice (Habiba) Brown is living a secretive life, we did find some public records that led us to her residence. Turns out Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s ex-wife, Habiba, is an enthusiastic runner and has a Facebook account, RunHabibaRun.

Likewise, she is the owner and designer of a clothing brand called Tutu Glam. The company makes glamorous and festive tutu skirts.

The Hall of Famer, Kareem’s former spouse, Habiba, is a vivacious woman and has maintained her youth even in her 70s. Let’s hope the charm of her remains for eternity.

Married To Kareem Abdul-Jabbar For Seven Years

Aforementioned, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar found his solace in Islam and decided to change his religion. However, it seemed mandatory for his partner to be Islam as well, and thus his first wife, Janice Brown, turned Muslim and was renamed, Habiba Abdul-Jabbar which means beloved.

The former couple met at a Lakers game during Kareem’s senior year at UCLA. The pair started dating and decided to share vows shortly after. The ceremony took place according to Muslim customs on 28 May 1971.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s dedication to Islam was so absolute that he did not invite his parents to the wedding. While talking to America Aljazeera, Kareem reflected his mistake of not inviting his parents and took more than a decade to rectify.

Furthermore, he also revealed that he was so devoted to Islam that he married a woman whom Hammas suggested despite having strong feelings for another woman. Thus, the marriage was doomed from the very start.

Welcomed Three Babies Together

Although Kareem and Habiba’s marriage did not last longer than seven years, they welcomed three children together. Jabbar’s children, Habiba Alcindor has grown up to become a journalist while Sultana Abdul-Jabbar is living a private life.

Similarly, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s son, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jr. played basketball briefly and decided to drop his basketball career and live a private life. Although the marriage did not work out, the Hall of Famer Kareem and Habiba were happy for a couple of years.

Unfortunately, the basketball legend, Kareem, dropped the ‘divorce bomb’ when Habiba was only three months pregnant with their daughter, Sultana. Well, Kareem has accepted that he went through some rudimentary stage of evolution and thus made some stupid decisions. Do you think announcing divorce to three months pregnant woman counts one?

Reason Behind Their Split

As an ardent Muslim, Kareem married according to his teacher’s will and later separated. The man who bagged six NBA championships and dazzled the world with his sky-hook, Kareem had an unusual relationship with his former wife.

Habiba and Kareem lived in separate homes briefly after their marriage and two children. The former partners had not lived together since 1973.

According to the LA Times, Kareem Abdul Jabbar admitted that no person except Cheryl Pistono had a more significant impact on his life. The woman who dared to ask and question Kareem’s belief also seems to have persuaded him to seek a divorce from an estranged marriage.

Aforementioned, Kareem announced his wished to separate when Habiba was three months pregnant with Sultana. Hence, upon Kareem’s insistence, their marriage was dissolved through a religious ceremony and later divorced in civil court.

Their divorce finalized in March 1983. But it isn’t confirmed if Cheryl Pistono played an active role in the estranged couple’s divorce. Anyway, both Jabbar and Janice, aka Habiba, moved on swiftly. Habiba Jabbar, aka Habiba J. Herbert, remarried in 1986 and gave birth to a son named Sean while Kareem was already blessed with a baby boy, Amir Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem also has a son named Adam Abdul-Jabbar from his relationship with Julye Olds. However, unlike his half-siblings, Adam came into the spotlight for negative reasons. He was accused of stabbing his neighbor during a dispute in 2020. And a year after the incident he plead guilty and was sentenced to jail for 6 months.

Let’s hope Habiba J Herbert remains healthy to pursue her passion for running even in the coming days and share a smile with the world.

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