If you’re a fan of reality TV, you may have been a fan of the show “Basketball Wives.” Gloria Goven was featured during the show’s first season of the Miami version of the franchise. Later, she transferred to the Los Angeles version of the show. At the time, she was dating basketball star Matt Barnes. She had also recently given birth to twin boys named Isaiah and Carter.

Barnes wasn’t fond of being on the show from the very beginning. He worried that their relationship wasn’t strong enough yet, and he didn’t like that the show encouraged Goven to fight with him and with the other women on the show.

According to Barnes, “They never wanted to see me, Gloria and the twins happy. They wanted to see like me and Gloria fighting, and Gloria fighting with the other girls.”

Barnes wanted Goven to quit the show after the first season, but she couldn’t get out of her contract and had to continue with the show. He definitely thinks the show is part of the reason their marriage didn’t work, but he also realizes that it was their decision to let the public into their private lives. He said, “We gave them access to our life so we can’t cuss everyone out in the world who has something to say that I don’t like about my family.”

Barnes and Goven first met when Goven was only 12 years old. They lost touch but reconnected when Barnes started playing basketball near Goven’s hometown, Oakland, California. They started dating in 2006 and were originally supposed to get married in 2010, but they postponed the wedding and got married in 2013. The marriage didn’t last very long. They got divorced in 2016.

Before their divorce was finalized, Goven moved on and started dating Derek Fisher. The couple’s first date was in 2015. Fisher was also married at the time.

Barnes and Fisher were former Lakers teammates, and Barnes was not happy when he learned about his former teammate’s relationship with his ex-wife. It didn’t help that he found out by accident.

Barnes found out Fisher was dating Goven when he showed up at Goven’s house for a scheduled custody visit with his sons. Goven had accidentally left her phone connected to her car’s speaker via bluetooth, so he ended up overhearing her conversation with Fisher. He almost lost it when he heard Fisher say, “Baby I miss you, I can’t wait to see you again and we had so much fun in New York.”

The situation came to a head when Barnes crashed a dinner party at Goven’s home. He jumped over the fence to find Goven and Fisher embracing, and that’s when he decided it was time to fight. What bothered Barnes the most was that neither Goven nor Fisher told him about their relationship. He wishes they had just been honest. Barnes eventually left the party when he found out security guards were on the way.

Barnes isn’t the only one who is up for a fight. There has been a long and dramatic custody battle between Goven and Barnes, partly due to an outburst from Goven. In 2018, Barnes showed up to pick up his kids from school, but Goven didn’t think it was his turn to watch the kids. She attacked her husband and was arrested for a felony charge of child endangerment. The court granted Barnes custody, and Goven was only allowed scheduled 4-hour supervised visits with her children.

In 2019, Goven was granted 50/50 custody with Barnes, a huge win for her. The custody agreement details who has custody when, where the children will attend school, and who will pay for school.

Goven and Fisher were supposed to get married in 2020, but due to COVID-19, they made the tough call to reschedule their wedding. The couple is still engaged, and they do plan to tie the knot one of these days. Goven said, “It was just based off of what the CDC advised and the current state of affairs. We just felt like it was in everyone’s best interest, really.”

Goven shared with People that the guests and vendors were all really understanding of the situation. She credits her wedding planner with making this difficult situation easier. She explained that the vendors have “been really nice to try to make sure that whatever date we choose in the future, that they’ll be available.”

While Goven and Fisher wait for the right moment to get married, life goes on and so do birthdays. In November 2020, Goven, Fisher and Barnes all came together to celebrate the 12th birthday of Goven and Barnes’ twins, Carter and Isaiah. They celebrated with a small dinner party, and Fisher’s children, Tatum and Drew, were also at the party. Barnes shared a photo on Instagram of all 7 of them smiling for the camera like one big happy family.

When Goven and Fisher first announced their engagement, Barnes explained on Instagram that he is focused on his children and happy about the relationship for the sake of his boys. He wrote, “Despite not seeing eye to eye initially w Derek he & i are on the same page & communicate weekly about isaiah & carter..With that being said congrats on the engagement!”

It seems that the love triangle is no longer filled with animosity and secrets. When the pandemic is over and Goven and Fisher can safely tie the knot with their friends and family there to celebrate, maybe they really will live happily ever after without Barnes having any bad feelings.