Rudy Gobert is a French basketball player who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Gobert was featured in Netflix’s Court of Gold, about men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics – he came across like a really focused and driven guy. Well, the Timberwolves are having an amazing season, but just as Gobert’s professional life is coming together, his personal life has fallen apart. Gobert was living with his partner, Julia Bonilla, here in America. They have a one-year-old son together, and Julia is expecting their second. Well, Gobert just dumped her and he has ordered her to move out of his house, even though she’s expecting. She seems to suggest that Gobert believes that he’s not the father of this second child.
Rudy Gobert broke up with his pregnant girlfriend, told her to move out of his home and take their one-year-old son with her right at the start of the NBA playoffs, TMZ Sports has learned. Sources close to the wives and girlfriends of Timberwolves players tell us the split was a bit of a shocker … considering Julia Bonilla and baby Romeo were spotted at Minnesota’s final regular season game on April 13
In fact, 32-year-old Gobert went up to them after the game for a warm embrace … so all appeared to be completely normal with the family. But, we’re told things changed some time after Bonilla revealed she was pregnant with their second child … and Gobert is now a single man.
Our sources say Bonilla hoped to move back to her home country of France following the split … but the four-time Defensive Player of the Year wants her and Romeo to stay in the States so they can figure out child custody after the Wolves’ season comes to an end. We’re told Gobert has lawyered up and his reps have applied pressure to ensure she stays in Minnesota.
Julia Bonilla just addressed the situation in a lengthy social media post … calling the whole ordeal “one of the most painful times in my life. I considered Rudy the love of my life… I left everything for him. I gave him a child and poured my heart into our relationship. Despite how I have been treated, I choose to protect his name for the sake of my children.”
Bonilla also noted she has “NEVER EVER been unfaithful to the father of my children” … adamantly denying cheating played a role in the split.
Rudy Gobert is now sharing his side … claiming “inaccurate information” is being thrown around, though he offers no specifics. Gobert did confirm he is no longer in a relationship with Julia, but still plans to “keep supporting the well-being of all the people that I care about.”
File this under “Men Are the WORST.” How are you going to have all of this drama with your pregnant partner, and mother of your son? Not to mention, she moved to America to be with you! The bit about Gobert already getting lawyers involved to force Julia to stay in America is pretty rotten too. I swear, NBA players are so toxic in relationships.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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- Rudy GOBERT (France) Mens basketball, Japan vs France, Men’s preliminary round during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 – photo Laurent Sanson / DDPI / Panoramic,Image: 894214085, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Laurent Sanson/Avalon
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- Rudy GOBERT (France) Mens basketball, Japan vs France, Men’s preliminary round during the Olympic Games Paris 2024 – photo Laurent Sanson / DDPI / Panoramic,Image: 894256456, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Laurent Sanson/Avalon
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- Rudy Gobert ( 27 – France ) with silver medal during the 2024 Olympics Games match between France and United States at Arena Bercy on August 10, 2024 in Paris, France. ( Photo by federico pestellini / DPPI / Panoramic ) – Final -,Image: 897707006, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Federico Pestellini/Avalon
I will wait for the facts here…. something is fishy here! If it is a problem of unfaithfulness, isn’t it easier to just get a dna test? If it is too risky now to get one, what about waiting…. Something happened and we aren’t getting the full picture yet!
I dunno. I tend to believe that some guys really just are a**holes. Especially athletes.
This. The older I get, the more examples I hear about shi**y dudes
I’d get the DNA test, publish it to all and sundry then take him to the cleaners for child support.
So you assume he is in the wrong…. What if he is right ?
Given lawyers are now involved, something is going on ….
Girl, you’re protecting his name but he’s not protecting you or your child. Patriarchal indoctrination has really done a number on women. This poor girl is still buying into the fairytale, thinking she’ll be viewed as classy and “wife material” by not airing him out but he’s getting ready to destroy her.
@VS Lawyers are involved because he knows he’s an asshole and has to make some power moves very quickly to keep her from taking their son to France.
@vs, I’m sorry (not actually) but even IF there is something “fishy” here, throwing your one-year-old out of his home is just wrong. Also publicly announcing that he is going to fight her in court like that is horrible and toxic as hell.
Because if a child is born into an established relationship like a marriage, the man is responsible for the child regardless of whether it is his child. So if I am a man and credibly suspect my partner’s child is not mine, I would also split with them and move them out before the child’s born.
This guy sounds super controlling. Leave your home to dedicate your life to me but now I’m kicking you and our child out but you alls can’t leave. Yikes
Ok. Here is where my age comes into play. I’m “old” (mid fifties). I don’t understand why women commit to these men, bear their children, move continents, and dedicate their lives to them, when the men have not solidified the commitment through marriage. I know it sounds old fashioned, but now, he’s put her and their child out, and he has the resources to tie up her life with custody arrangements that could force her to stay in the US – and what does she have? Nothing. She has no legal leverage, and he has deep pockets.
So many people think marriage is just a piece of paper, but it represents a lot more when you’re in a situation like this one. It gives you better standing and better consideration when you have to deal with courts and custody and child support/ spousal support…
I pray they work this out in a way that’s fair for her and the children.
I too have heard the just a piece of paper and I reply, it’s a lot more than that but if you’re not ready or willing that’s your choice. I have heard it from men who do not want to get married and it feels like they’re trying to convince themselves or their partner.
If I understand correctly, Julia Bonilla and Rudy Gobert are both French, and the French the advantage of social welfare systems that limit some of the harm done when cohabitating couples split up, as well as some increased legal protections. By no means, is it as “neat” as being able to get a divorce — divorce can be horrendously messy, but it’s so much harder in the States for unmarried people to do things like divide property at the end of a relationship if they don’t agree — but I think the perception among most normal people (not super-rich athletes) is that marriage isn’t particularly necessary in that system.
But because Julia is here and had a child/may have another child here, things become horribly complicated. Relationships end, and during a pregnancy is a nightmare, but it happens. I hope that she has the ability to also hire a lawyer to fight for adequate support and to potentially leave. I don’t care what she did or didn’t do, no one should be held hostage by a partner, with the very young children used as bait.
Franco-American speaking…it is very very common here in France to not get married, older and younger couples alike. We have several types of marriages and civil unions, only one type of marriage requires you to split your assets in the case of divorce. In French family law, she may still be able to recieve alimony even though they are not married, and he will absolutely have to pay child support. Under French law, this woman does have legal protection, and culturally marriage is not viewed here the same way it is viewed in the US.
We need more information.
Lawyering up to keep his child in the states while custody and support are negotiated is a smart move. My little brother divorced his wife and she immediately moved across the country because she wanted support, but did not want to share parenting duties – he was forced to take a job for significantly less pay to move to Illinois and be a Dad.
Not saying he isn’t somehow at fault and making her move out while pregnant seems harsh but we don’t know what happened from either side.
If he was a decent guy and good father, HE would have moved out. Forcing your 1 year old to suddenly move and your pregnant partner who’s in a foreign country with no family, is risking her health.
Yup. Father of the year should’ve found a different place to live, at least while it all shakes out.
What actually happened to cause that reaction? Yikes!
This is a tricky situation, because joint custody seems to be what he’s angling for. Both of them are French citizens. If she wants to go back to France where she has friends, family and support, this makes sense to me. Forcing Julia to stay in the States if she doesn’t want to, with the current political situation seems super controlling–he can arrange a few off days to see his children during the season and have custody in the off season like lots of other international athletes. Presumably he wasn’t raising them while out on the road? Or he could in theory play basketball in France. Her or him cheating or not cheating has nothing to do with the children. Nothing–that’s not what custody is based on.
His ex doesn’t have the legal right to remove the kids from the US without his consent. His lawyers working to keep her in the US is actually also in her own best interest—removing the kids to France without the consent of both parents would be considered an improper removal in violation of the Hague Convention (aka parental kidnapping). Hague cases generally disfavor improper removal in a very serious manner, which would probably impact her ability to succeed in getting a normal custody allotment in any subsequent custody case.
This seems on brand for the guy who rubbed all over the microphones at a press conference at the beginning of Covid.
Crazy story. I follow the Timberwolves and their wags so I was really surprised with this story. I mean this is a guy who missed a playoff game in the WC semis in the playoffs last year so he wouldn’t miss the birth of his som so I doubt he’d just randomly act like that. But then again you never know. I wonder if we’ll get more info
Honestly the most annoying part of this whole story is this ‘single man’ narrative. This grown ass man is a father to at least one of these kids, even if he denies or is unsure about the second. At BEST he is a single father now, at WORST he is a single father now. Really trying to focus attention on the father part here if you didn’t notice. No matter how this turns out this man is garbage for kicking out his own one year old from the house.
isn’t this the same guy that thought covid was a joke and touched everything in mockery, then it turned out he did have it and had spread it, which quickly shutdown the NBA, and then the rest of the country shortly after that?
I think the thing that really bothers me here is that she has put all this energy and devotion into this man and building a family with him and supporting him and he had obviously not met her at the same level because he is willing to put her and their child out of the house while she is pregnant with what is, presumably, his child. He is very much behaving as a single man concerned about his own interests, not as a partner trying to navigate a difficult situation. This is why it is dangerous to put so much energy into a man who is not willing to reciprocate. At the end of the day, his biggest concern is himself. Not his woman, not his child(ren). They’re not married, so technically, he’s not obligated to be any more concerned than what he currently is.
Shaq took a shot at Gobert saying he was the worst player in the NBA and overpaid. An anonymous vote among NBA players confirmed what Shaq said, that he IS the worst player in the NBA.
But to do this to the mother of his child, who is pregnant? Wtf? Maybe he’s projecting his own cheating on her. I think women who have children with professional athletes should ABSOLUTELY get some type of legal document protecting them and their children should they break up. The men have all the money for the best lawyers and the woman’s financial situation is most likely up to her man. How humiliating for her, too, that he publicly questions if he is the father of her child. Just damn.