Over the past week reports emerged that Eva Longoria and NBA star Tony Parker filed for divorce as a result of Parker’s texting relationship with Erin Barry, the wife of Parker's San Antonio Spurs teammate Brent Barry.
Now VH1’s “Basketball Wives” star Jennifer Williams, whose husband, Eric Williams ,played alongside both Parker and Williams with the San Antonio Spurs, is pointing the finger at Erin Barry for instigating the trouble.
“I know all parties involved. I’m completely shocked and horrified to find out it was because of another wife, that’s completely unacceptable,” Williams told Pop Tarts. “When you’re married to one of these guys, you know what we go through, and to do that to another wife is just unacceptable.”
Parker has denied he had a relationship with Barry.
The reality star said she didn’t see the Parker/Longoria divorce coming.
“I was definitely surprised because I didn’t know that they had any kind of problems in their marriage,” Williams said, adding that in her dealings with Parker she never once got the vibe that he had wandering ways.
According to Williams, texting and technology make it much too easy for people to do the dirty.
“The whole texting and social networking is just a whole different world than it was even two or three years ago,” she said. “It is easier to cheat if you want to, which is horrible. With new technology there are so many more ways to cheat and not get caught, unless you’re stupid."
Ahem, did you hear that Woods and Favre?
Moving on, Williams also explained why basketball stars are more likely to stray than some other sports stars.
“NFL only plays once per week. But in basketball, the season is maybe two games every week, and 41 are on the road. They’re on the road pretty much half the season, some are overnight, or for the week or a couple of weeks. They are away from their spouses a lot,” she said. “You have these women who know the hotels they stay at, the restaurants they frequent, a lot of times these women just throw themselves at the guys and these athletes have huge egos.”
Williams said she has come to terms with the groupies.
“At first I thought ‘Oh wow this is crazy.’ I didn’t know anything about being with an athlete, seeing some of this stuff was just crazy,” she told us. “It is not something I learned overnight, but I’ve learned I can’t control anyone but myself. I can’t control my husband or these girls. You have to figure out a way to deal with these situations and have a strong foundation.”
Williams hinted that in the upcoming season of “Basketball Wives,” which premieres on VH1 December 12 8pm ET/PT, she may very well be following Longoria’s footsteps.
“You’ll see me battling whether I am going to remain a basketball wife or not,” she added. “When people think of basketball wives, they think we have this perfect life, and they just see all the glitz and glamour. But honestly, it’s a strange lifestyle. We go through a lot of struggles and I just want people to see what it is really like to be with one of these guys. It’s not easy, there are a lot of things that can come into play.”