ESPN's Stunning Cari Champion Married or Dating? Into Her Personal Life
Quick Information
- Date of Birth Jun 01, 1975
- Age 49 Years, 6 Months
- Nationality American
- Birth Place Pasadena, California, United States
- Birth Name Cari Racquel Brooks
- Profession Journalist
- Relationship Status Single
- Salary $1 Million
- Net Worth $2 Million
- Ethnicity/Race Afro-American
- Father Dylan Champion
- Mother Mariah Champion
- Siblings Three
- College University of California, Los Angeles
- Height/ How Tall? 6' 1"
- Hair Color Black
- Eye Color Black
- Official Site http://carichampion.com/
American sportscaster Cari Champion is known as the host of ESPN2's sports talk show, First Take. She also became one of the familiar faces amongst ESPN viewers, anchoring the sport-related program, SportsNation.
Because of her popularity, Champion is also the topic of gossip, and many talks about her personal life that she has been keeping private.
Get along to know everything we know about the sportscaster's personal life, along with her bio and net worth.
Champion Has a Big No When It Comes to Dating Black Men
Despite the fact that Champion possesses black ethnicity, she does not like to date Black men.
Talking to MTO News about interracial dating back in December 2017, she insisted that interracial relationships were "easier."
She explained that when it came to having an interracial boyfriend, the differences in culture made it easy to gel in with each other giving more time to have an understanding relationship.
She further claimed that it is often "hard" to date Black men because they expect too much of women. Because of that, she generally prefers to date White men over Black men.
Admitted Having 15 Boyfriends in Paris
According to YouTuber Oshay Duke Jackson, Champion admitted to being loved by people of Europe and that she actually has 15 boyfriends in Paris, France.
The sportscaster said that the White men in France treated her better than Black men in America.
That being said, it is still unclear if she actually has 15 boyfriends in Paris - as she might have stated it in a jokingly way.
Announced Ryen Russillo as Boyfriend
Sportscaster Champion has often kept her dating status away from the media reach. However, in 2014, she baffled her followers when she announced her fellow workmate Ryen Russillo as her boyfriend.
Champion made her relationship official with Russillo through a tweet on May 26, 2014. "It's official... Here's my boo @ryenarussillo," she wrote.
It's official... Here's my boo @ryenarussillo! Do the math.. SUPER attractive, successful... Equals amazing. pic.twitter.com/Z2iCF00Fmf — Cari Champion (@CariChampion) May 26, 2014
Both Champion and Russillo mentioned each other on Twitter as boyfriend and girlfriend in several other instances, too.
Cari Champion and Ryen Russillo together on their show. (Photo: Twitter)
However, the two stopped appearing together, and more importantly, they even don't follow each other on social media anymore. And that suggests that they aren't dating currently.
Is Cari Champion Single Presently?
Speaking of Champion's current relationship status, she has not revealed anything about being married to a husband or dating a boyfriend lately.
The reason being, she prefers a private personal life. She had even written in her tweet on July 10, 2020, that she would never want to share the details of her relationship.
I do believe the rumors, suggestions and innuendos surrounding their relationship has everyone in “investigative” mode. But at the end of day.. I would never wanna share with y’all. So bravo to them for sharing what they wanted but I have a feeling - a taste leads to more. — Cari Champion (@CariChampion) July 10, 2020
Therefore, it is fair not to speculate if she is single or committed to a partner.
That being said, she is in deep love with her Sportscaster career, which earns her an annual salary of $1 million. And according to Celebrity Net Worth, she owns a net worth of $2 million.
How She Handled Racist and Sexist Tweet? Controversy Bound
In November 2014, American comedian Artie Lange made a racist joke through a series of tweets about having sex with Champion. His comments were widely criticized, and ESPN even made a statement regarding his tweets as reprehensible.
Later, realizing the faults of his racist and sexist tweet, the comedian made a formal apology to Champion.
Champion, on the other hand, never actually took the tweets offensively and just continued her work without even bothering about it.
Moreover, she came to the spotlight about her opinion about the basketball player, Kevin Durant, which engrossed criticism towards her. Champion did not include Kevin in the list of top five basketball players in her show, SportsCenter stating that he Doesn’t Have a Lot of Heart.
In response, another American basketball player Damian Lillard questioned where the media find people like Champion via his Twitter.
Champion's Bio: Journey To ESPN
Champion was a reporter at the Orange County News Channel at the beginning phase of her career. She later joined NBC-affiliated WPTV-TV in 2002, where she worked in the same position as a reporter on the channel.
After WPTV-TV, she moved to WGCL-TV in Atlanta, and while working as an anchor for the network, she was fired for allegedly using profanity on the air in November 2007.
But the "Never Give Up" attitude aided her to get through difficult times. Later in 2008, she was hired back as she appealed her innocence by stating that the floor director had not sent word to her after the commercial and the microphone recorded the regrettable moment.
She has worked across the country covering news related to sports and entertainment in the media networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC.
Champion joined ESPN in 2012, where she initially anchored a talk show, First Take, in the network for three years. She also hosted the daily sports talk program SportsCenter from 2015 to 2018.
In March 2018, it was announced that Champion would be the host of SportsNation. As of now, she hosts SportsNation alongside co-hosts LZ Granderson and Marcellus Wiley.
Cari Champion during a show with co-hosts LZ Granderson and Marcellus Wiley in June 2018. (Photo: Cari Champion's Instagram)
The 42-year-old is also a women's rights advocate, which is evinced by her post related to women empowerment on Instagram.