Larsa Pippen Calls Off Scandalous Fling With Malik Beasley, 'Decided To Distance Herself From The Drama'
Guess it wasn't meant to be after all... Larsa Pippen and Malik Beasley have reportedly called it quits after their hot-and-heavy hookup caught everyone’s attention.
Sources said that Pippen and Beasley "were friends first" before sparking romance rumors, but are "still in communication" despite the recent split.
After Pippen took some heat for being snapped with the married man, "Larsa decided to distance herself from the drama," an insider said. "He was going through a lot and the timing wasn’t right." The news of the split also comes after Beasley was reportedly sentenced to 120 days of home confinement because of a firearm incident in February.
"Many people assumed it was serious when in fact it was not," the source added of their relationship. Since the breakup, the 46-year-old has been "focusing on her family and Larsa Marie, her jewelry brand." Pippen shares children Scotty Jr., 20, Preston, 19, Justin, 16, and Sophia, 13, with ex-husband Scottie Pippen.
Rumors of a split have been circulating since late February when Pippen appeared to go on a solo vacation only days after Valentine’s Day. They also unfollowed each other on social media, and Pippen was spotted with a new man while on vacation last month. (OK! exclusively revealed her mystery man to be businessman Myles Kronman.)
Pippen and Beasley, 24, were first linked in November when photos of them holding hands in in Miami were leaked while the b-baller was still married to Montana Yao, with whom he shares his 2-year-old son, Makai.
Yao claimed that she learned of the fling along with everyone else when the photos came out. Pippen, however, maintained that Beasley and Yao were having marital issues before they got together. "We had spoken about it. It wasn’t a secret," Pippen explained on the "Hollywood Unlocked" podcast. "I know a lot of people that are married and exiting. I’ve played that part. So for me, if you’re not being shady and you’re telling me all your stuff, I’m going to believe you.
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"I Googled them when I first met him… they weren’t together. They had issues before. It had nothing to do with me, so I wasn’t thinking about it. If you spent a minute Googling their situation, it wasn’t the ideal situation way before me."
Meanwhile, Yao alleged that she and her son were kicked out of the family home. "Malik looks to put this matter behind him," Beasley’s attorney told Us Weekly, who broke the news of the couple's split. "Mr. Beasley forgot to inform Montana Yao, his long-time partner and wife, of his plans to leave his family 'behind,'" Yao’s attorney said.
Beasley’s attorney responded, "It is unfortunate that counsel for Montana Yao has elected to misrepresent facts in the media to seek sympathy, while omitting the fact his client demanded an outrageous and obscene amount of money for not only her, but for her mother, as an apparent bounty for an eight-month marriage." Yao’s attorney called his statement "false from beginning to end."
Amid the divorce, Yao was reportedly granted child support of $6,500 per month, and earlier this month a paternity test confirmed that Makai is his son. "I miss holding you , teaching you, and laughing with you .. you are my other half and my time is coming !! You will be with me all summer and trust me," Beasley wrote on his son's birthday on March 26. The model was said to be denied a $5,000 per month spousal support bid.