The Big Picture
Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan have unfollowed each other on social media, sparking speculation of a break-up.
The couple’s relationship has been filled with drama, including disapproval from Marcus’ father, Michael Jordan.
Larsa and Marcus started a podcast together and joined the competition reality series,
The Traitors
, before their relationship took a turn.
Larsa Pippen shocked the world when she first confirmed her relationship with Marcus Jordan. The Bravo reality star is 16 years Jordan’s senior, and their paths have crossed before. Larsa was married to NBA legend Scottie Pippen. Scottie famously played for the Chicago Bulls with NBA great Michael Jordan, who is Marcus’ father. Larsa initially laughed off the inquiries, telling a flabbergasted Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live: “I think a lot of people think that our families were really close and intertwined, and they really weren’t.” She continued: “Like, I never really knew Marcus, or his mom, or them. I just recently met them a couple of years ago.”
In the middle of Super Bowl LVIII Sunday, Larsa shocked fans again by sharing a poll on her Instagram feed: “Should your friends unfollow your ex? Yes/No,” the poll asked. Eagle-eyed followers quickly noticed that, along with the poll, Larsa had wiped her profile of most traces of the couple together. Both had also unfollowed the other. While watching the game with his father, Marcus shared a somewhat cryptic and possibly shady post on his end. In a photograph with his father, who seemingly disproved of the relationship, Marcus added a caption: “MJ^2” referencing his shared initials with his father, while the lyrics to Drake’s “First Person Shooter” pop up: “I search one name, and end up seein’ 20 things/Nadine, Christine, Justine, Kathleen, Charlene, Pauline, Claudine/ Man I pack ’em in this phone like some sardines/And they send me naked pictures, it’s the small things.” This post, emphasizing his closeness with his father and family, and also his ability to search his phone for other women’s names and nude photographs, seems to imply that amid the break-up, Marcus is doing just fine. But what reportedly went wrong between the two after they’d previously discussed marriage openly?
The Traitors (US)
Contestants in the game move into a majestic castle and work as a team to complete a series of dramatic and challenging missions to earn money for the prize pot. Some contestants are traitors some are loyal.
Release Date January 12, 2023
Cast Alan Cumming , Kate Chastain , Cirie Fields , Arie Luyendyk Jr.
Seasons 2
Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan’s Relationship Timeline
Image by Annamaria Ward, Bravo
Larsa told PEOPLE Magazine the pair met at a party in LA in 2019 and built a friendship over time. The couple went Instagram official in Jan 2023 – sharing a photo posing in front of a floral arrangement made to look like his father’s Bulls jersey. Then, in February, the pair shared endearing Valentine’s posts about each other. Larsa seemed head-over-heels, singing Marcus’ praise in the press and touting him above all the other guys she had met over the years. Her reality series Real Housewives of Miami season six was filmed between April and July 2023, and Larsa and Marcus were already joking about the size of the engagement ring he would need to purchase to keep Larsa happy. She also hosted a “Welcome Home” party for her beau after he had been away for a mere five days.
In June 2023, Larsa and Marcus started their now awkwardly titled podcast, Separation Anxiety. The couple talk about significant moments in their lives and family history, and delve into topics like life, love, and sex, as the pair “share their private thoughts about being in the public eye.” Later in June, Michael Jordon was leaving a dinner in Paris and when asked by a TMZ reporter if he approved of his son’s new relationship, he responded “No!” Larsa had recently made claims in public that there were no hard feelings about their relationship in the Jordan family. The couple then responded to the backlash from Michael’s comment on their podcast episode titled “Father Knows Best?!?!??!” Marcus seemed to think that his father had been joking around with the photographer, as he and his dad often have a tendency to rib one another in their relationship. He claimed that his father had texted him to make sure that his playful comment had not been interpreted the wrong way. Larsa, in her end, claimed to be “traumatized” by the whole situation, feeling like she had been made out to look like a liar. She then acknowledged: “It probably is awkward for my ex and your dad, because they have their own, like, relationship, or whatever it was.”
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In August 2023, engagement rumors started flying in the media, as Larsa was seen wearing what seemed to be an engagement ring. Larsa clarified on their podcast that this was just a “promise ring,” while Marcus claimed that a proposal was “in the works.” In the fall of 2023, the pair then moved on to join the competition reality series The Traitors together. When Parade magazine interviewed the couple in January 2024, Larsa noted: “But I do feel like our relationship has changed. We had to have this conversation, and we’re basically like, ‘Hey, once we get to the castle, I’m Larsa, and you’re Marcus, and we’re not necessarily a duo anymore.’ You’re on your own. I’m on my own.” She then went on to clarify that this was a change “in a good way”, stating: “I feel like we’re both growing individually. This is our path, and I think it’s super fun to be able to experience this with someone you care about and at the same time be challenged in your relationship.”
Marcus was eliminated earlier than Larsa, who is still playing the game as it continues to air. Marcus told Parade: “We made a pact too. Whoever has to go home first has to wait for the other one.” He then claimed that if he was eliminated first, he would “go play some golf.” Perhaps it was the distance after filming an intense competition series together that put an end to the rose-colored glasses the pair had on when looking at the relationship. The Traitors’ reunion will be filmed in early March 2024, and both Larsa and Marcus will be in attendance. Hopefully, the pair will discuss whether coming into the series together, and taking the strategy of independence instead of being a “duo” in the castle, had any affect on their relationship.
Other than the poll, Larsa’s Instagram reel had many cryptic messages about break-ups. The reel starts with a video from The Breakup Bounce in which Morgan Freeman narrates: “Let me tell you about a voice. The one inside. The one that whispers. It tells me what’s right and what’s not. When to leave and where to go. It’s not Shakespeare, it does not speak in memorable lines.” This clip is followed by the “unfollow your ex” poll, and then the reel ends with a lengthy post from @jenniferjiminah describing the importance of choice when it comes to the partner you allow in your life.
Marcus’ reel, on the other hand, was mostly about viewing the Super Bowl with his family. The reel ends with a photo of his father dunking, following the clip of Drake singing about all the naked women he has stored on his phone. Given Larsa’s comment about feeling traumatized by Michael’s seeming disapproval of the relationship, whether it was a jest or not, it would seem that this reel has a potentially coded message of its own. The Jordans are feeling once again slightly superior to, or dunking on, a Pippen.
As for what caused the split, a source told PEOPLE: “They have decided to take some time apart to reevaluate their relationship. This has nothing to do with any family input, but solely for their personal growth.”
Episodes of The Traitors are airing Thursdays on Peacock. Season six of Real Housewives of Miami airs on Wednesdays on Bravo, with the next-day replays also available on Peacock. Watch on Peacock