Larsa Pippen is still reeling from Michael Jordan’s comments about her relationship with his son Marcus Jordan.
“I was kind of, like, embarrassed,” Pippen, 48, confessed during the Monday, July 10, episode of her and Marcus’ “Separation Anxiety” podcast.
Michael, 60, made headlines on July 2 after sharing his thoughts about his son, 32, dating the Real Housewives of Miami star, 49. When a photographer questioned whether Michael approved of the romance, he replied, “No,” and laughed.
Pippen — who was first linked to Marcus in September 2022 — explained on Monday that she was taken aback when Michael spoke out about their relationship. “I was, like, traumatized,” she said, revealing she was worried people would think she “lied” about both families supporting the romance. “I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. What are we going to do?’”
Marcus, meanwhile, thought it was a joke based on his dad’s personality. “I’m dying laughing when I read the headline. I know my dad,” Marcus told listeners. “Part of our DNA is to talk s—t. He’s being playful. He’s laughing. He’s a little lit. I didn’t put too much weight into it.”
Pippen, however, didn’t feel the same way, admitting, “I didn’t think it was funny. There’s nothing funny about it.”
Marcus understood where his girlfriend was coming from but pointed out that Michael did reach out after his viral comments and explained he wasn’t being serious. Marcus insisted that his father supported the relationship — but confessed the Jordan and Pippen families weren’t thrilled with it at first.
“His goal has always been to stay clear of our relationship. I don’t think that my dad wanted to comment on that,” Marcus said, noting that Michael’s past beef with Pippen’s ex-husband, Scottie Pippen, only added fuel to the fire. “There’s always that narrative that I’m dating you to get back [at Scottie]. I think [dad] said ‘no’ in a joking way. I thought it was funny out the jump.”
Michael and Scottie, 57, were teammates on the Chicago Bulls in the 80s and the 90s. When Michael’s documentary, The Last Dance, debuted in 2020, Scottie’s contributions to the team’s success were noticeably left out. Scottie later voiced his disappointment over the film in his Unguarded memoir, which came out in 2021.
“They glorified Michael Jordan while not giving nearly enough praise to me and my proud teammates,” Scottie wrote. “Michael deserved a large portion of the blame. The producers had granted him editorial control of the final product. The doc couldn’t have been released otherwise. He was the leading man and the director.”
Larsa, for her part, agreed on Monday that the Scottie and Michael’s history could make both men wary of her dating Marcus. (Larsa and Scottie — who share sons Scottie Jr., 22, Preston, 21, and Justin, 18, and daughter Sophia, 14 — briefly split in 2018 after two decades of marriage. They filed for divorce for a second time in November 2018, finalizing the proceedings in December 2021.)
“I do understand that it’s not awkward for us to be together because it’s us. But it probably is awkward for my ex and your dad because they have their own relationship,” she said on the podcast. “I can’t be mad. I understand.”
While the couple called it “terrible” timing for Michael to jokingly comment on their relationship, Larsa assured listeners on Monday that she feels “good right now” after she and Marcus “talked it through” and Michael cleared the air via texts and calls to his son.
“My dad kind of did say, ‘Maybe I should have stayed quiet,’” Marcus concluded, explaining that his father did show “his support privately.”
