Unlike some of Charles Barkley‘s peers, his personal life is safeguarded. He rarely talks or comes out in public with his wife, Maureen Blumhardt, or their daughter, Christiana Barkley. The couple married in 1989 and had their daughter that same year.
Advertisement
Christiana was born on May 15th, 1989. Graduating from Vilanova University between 2007 and 2011, she is an avid Vilanova Wildcats fan. In an interview with USA Today, her father revealed how she managed to lure him into cheering for the Wildcats during their title-winning run in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Charles, who was on commentary duty for the tournament, said:
“My daughter was living and dying with every game for the last three weeks, so I was really more excited for her, to be honest with you. She’s been going to a Villanova bar in New York City every game. She didn’t even want to come to the game because she didn’t want to jinx the game.”
Advertisement
After graduating from Vilanova in 2011, Christina worked as a sales assistant at Turner Sports, TNT’s parent company. Her father has been an analyst at TNT since 2000. She worked at Turner Sports for almost three years. She pursued her Masters in journalism at Columbia University and graduated in 2017. She took up a job at Koppelman Group as the senior account manager and director of writing.
Christiana met her husband, Ilya Hoffman, at a Vilanova watch party at Mason Jar, a sports bar in Manhattan, in 2016. After the party, Hoffman, the founder of marketing technology company DemandByte, invited a few people, including Christiana, back to his apartment. He planned to split up six slices of leftover pizza among ten people. However, she pulled him aside and told her she wanted two slices. The duo hit it off and started dating soon after.
Christiana and Ilya got married in 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The couple was blessed with their first child in 2022, a boy named Henry. They had their second child in 2023, a girl named Charlie Elize. In an interview with a local news channel in Alabama, Charles Barkley revealed that his granddaughter is named after him. Talking about his love for his grandkids, he said:
“When I hold those babies and they look up at me, there’s no better feeling in the world.”
Barkley revealed he wants his grandkids to call him Big Pop. He adopted the nickname after a little girl at a charity event in Charlotte called him that before asking for a photograph.
Advertisement
Charles Barkley reveals hilarious reason why his daughter is named Christiana
In one of the rare instances the Hall of Famer spoke about his family, he revealed why he named his daughter Christiana.
In an episode of the Steam Room podcast in 2021, Barkley and co-host Ernie Johnson were fielding fans’ questions. A woman named Sydney asked the retired NBA superstar about his love for the piano. Barkley pivoted away from the question and said:
“You know, Sydney. That’s like my favorite girl name. I always said if I had another girl, shout out to Christiana. Love you, girl. But if I ever had another girl. I would name her Sydney. Just love that name for a girl.”
Johnson asked him whether he considered naming his first daughter Sydney. Barkley claimed he liked the name years after he had Christiana. He then said:
“She’s named after a mall in fairness. There’s the Christiana Mall in Delaware that I used to always go by. That’s how she got her name Christiana.”
A baffled Johnson questioned the reason for it. Barkley replied:
“I don’t know. I just like the mall.”
Barkley is idiosyncratic. However, this was too odd by his lofty standards.
Advertisement
ncG1vNJzZmismJrAsbvRraqrraOde6S7zGilm5ldo7K4v4ycn5qqnJrAbq7Aq6KlnalisaLBxqGrnqpdmLWztdKtoJqmkWKvor7KpZyyZZeawbW1zaBkraddoLuww4ympqudXw%3D%3D