The worst Big 3 to touch the NBA hardwood…ever. No, not that one. Rather, we're talking about Donald Sterling, Shelly Sterling and V. Stiviano.
Over the years, the Sterling’s have made up two thirds of the sports world’s most odd, intriguing love triangle. Disgraced former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, his wife Shelly, and mistress V. Stiviano have kept TMZ busy with their attention-grabbing and often times nauseating affairs.
While much of it is rooted in Donald’s absolutely horrific outward racism, it still provides for great entertainment, as V. Stiviano’s appearance with Barbara Walters remains a top 10 TV moment of all-time.
I mean, she’s Donald’s right hand silly little rabbit after all.
Their story is full of twists and turns, with love-hate relationships developing between them (Except for Stiviano and Shelly. For clear reasons, they just hate each other).
In the end, we know that the Sterling’s came out of all the drama as losers. Sterling lost his team and his wife’s name was dragged through the mud. It seemed like only Stiviano would exit the scandal relatively well off.
So, ugh…well..about that.
Not so fast. Sterling’s wife made sure that if her family’s name was going down the chute, Stiviano would be going down with them. A Sterling Quicksand Deathtrap of Doom if you will, was implemented by Mrs. Sterling.
This is how Shelly Sterling got the last laugh over her husband’s longtime mistress…if you consider any of this actually funny given how it all came to the surface because of Donald being an A-plus level (bleep)hole.
Time to state the obvious. The Sterling’s were absolutely loaded. As of 2019, Donald is estimated to be worth 3.7 billion dollars. Billion, with a B. And this is after he was caught on tape being racist.
So, because of Donald’s wealth, Shelly was just as rich. Before the whole meltdown, the two had put their money in a joint trust. Everything that Donald owned, Shelly owned half of it. This is a key fact.
Another obvious statement: V Stiviano was not with Donald Sterling for his looks. I mean, have you seen the guy?
So why would she be spending all her time cuddling up to this guy at seemingly every Clippers game? We’ll give you one guess.
Donald was not exactly a penny pincher when it came to spoiling his mistress. The guy balled out in every category.
When Stiviano needed a house, Sterling got her a 1.8 million dollar duplex in Beverly Hills.
Stiviano needed a car? Donald gave her three. A Ferrari, a Bentley, and a Range Rover.
Anything for his “little rabbit”…
This doesn’t even include all the petty cash that Sterling gave her for clothes, food, and whatever gadget caught her eye, including this weird visor thing that she is constantly pictured in.
Basically, V. had nabbed herself the world’s best sugar daddy – minus the entire being racist and awful and all that actually awful stuff. But all of it was about to come crashing down on her.
Shelly Sterling knew about Stiviano, but she tolerated her. For the most part.
It was embarrassing that her husband was bringing a woman half her age to the games, often times while she herself was in attendance. But Shelly accepted that was part of being married to Donald Sterling.
However, spending this amount of cash on a side chick was too much for Shelly. So she did what the Sterling’s did best. She sued.
Shelly’s best point was that since she owned joint accounts with Donald, all that money he spent on Stiviano was hers, too. Every Bentley, every luxury handbag, every watch that Donald had gifted Stiviano had been paid for using half of Shelly’s money.
In a long and drawn out case, the courts finally made their decision. Shelly came out with a resounding win. Stiviano was forced to relinquish 2.6 million dollars worth of assets that Sterling had purchased for her, including all those fancy cars.
This is one way that only rich humans can get back at those who are attempting to break up marriages. Us normal, non-rich humans? We just have to settle for a divorce.
Anyways…
Stiviano was devastated, and immediately appealed the decision. She claimed Donald gifted her the items out of love, and the two were lovers who did not even have a romantic relationship. Donald just loved her so much he gave her all these nice things.
Using love as a defense seems wonderful. Love conquers all, right? Wrong, pal. Love is just a word pushed by Big Hallmark to make you think it’s real. I mean, how do you explain this supposed undefeated emotion losing in a court of law?
So, yeah, her appeal didn’t work. Love failed. Shelly Sterling had achieved her revenge on the woman who had made her a laughingstock for years.
While it may be an interesting story, NBA fans can go back to directing their main focus on the most important thing for them: watching basketball, not messy love triangles.
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