Michael Vick’s Wife Kijafa Vick Remained by His Side during His Peaks and Troughs

When Michael Vick was imprisoned for running an illegal dogfighting ring back in 2007, his wife Kijafa Vick was the one to hold the fort down.

It was especially tricky because, for the entirety of their time together, Michael had been shouldering the flow of cash, which, as his wife would later recall, he had a lot of, just not enough. 

Kijafa Vick Recounts Husband's Incarceration 

During a sitdown with I AM ATHLETE's spinoff I AM WOMAN, Kijafa recalled the harrowing experience of her husband ending up behind bars and leaving her and their kids to fend for themselves.

He didn't exactly leave them with nothing. While net worth figures are still obscure, the wife recalled there being a lot of money to go around. 

Michael was at the prime of his NFL career, after all. 

Michael Vick's Wife Had to Deal With Everything

The entire situation was difficult, no doubt about that. However, what made it all worse was that Kijafa was left alone to deal with everything. 

She recalled having a month-old baby when her husband went to jail. Safe to say, life was hard for her.

Moreover, she was never bothered about how her husband made and managed all of the money he had. Surprise, surprise, playing in the NFL paid well. 

That was before prison, though. When he went to jail, she had to dive headfirst into the deeper end.

She had to keep up with the attorneys and the accountants. She was essentially thrust into handling it all. 

Still, the bold woman did not lose her faith in herself and instead devoted all that she had to learning; learning the finances; learning the case; dealing with the people involved. 

Kijafa Vick Had Never Dealt with Finances Before

The doting wife realized and accepted that this was the flipside of her husband's lifestyle. 

For as long as they'd been together, she was happy with how things were going.

Her footballer husband would give her money, and she would use what she had to and put the rest in her bank. 

 I ain't care what you was doing with your money, I was good with mine. [sic]

She re-established that her husband was "super rich" when he first went to prison. So rich that she couldn't imagine that all of it could be spent in just two years. 

The legal fees were one side of the story. With time, she realized that a lot of Michael's money was tied up in investments that were bogus, fake. 

By the time her husband walked a free man, they had no money left. 

In fact, they were in debt. 

Still, when they actually got around to going over the accounts, they couldn't help but laugh. They had no reason to laugh. They were in deep trouble. But they laughed regardless. 

At their lowest, Kijafa recalled that a friend loaned them a hundred thousand dollars, which they used as seed money to rebuild. 

Drawing from past experiences, they were able to rebuild the empire that they once had and build it better. 

The Couple Came out Wiser

Although the footballer and his wife were able to pull themselves back from the slump they were shoved into, she couldn't help but admit that people from the Black community were not the best prepared when it came to dealing with the financial side of life. 

Michael Vick posing with his wife Kijafa Vick (Source: Instagram)

She recalled how they weren't well informed about taxation and investments, especially because of how much money her husband made.

"You have people now asking you for money," she confessed, "You have everyone taxing you and taking from you, and if people keep taking from you, your well is going to eventually run dry."

Regardless of the hands they were dealt with, the Vics came out of it stronger — if not financially, at least as a couple.