Jalen Rose Found His Soulmate With ESPN’s ‘First Take’ Host

Jalen Rose and Molly Qerim have a great thing going. Individually, they are both stars. Together, they are an ESPN power couple. Sports brought them together, and it doesn’t look like anything can break them apart.Show more

Rose is a former NBA star turned ESPN analyst who is featured on several programs, including NBA Countdown, and podcasts, while Qerim is the famous host of First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman.

Whether it’s on air, Instagram Live, or at sporting events, the happy couple can be seen together when their busy schedules allow it.

Jalen Rose’s Wife: Molly Qerim

ESPN analyst Jalen Rose and Molly Qerim have been dating since 2016, which was first confirmed in a tweet. They were married in the New York City area back in 2018 and took a honeymoon to Turks and Caicos shortly thereafter, according to Page Six.

While their relationship is more than public, especially on social media, details of their personal lives aren’t always shared.

Qerim, who was born in New Haven, Connecticut, is 11 years younger than Rose, who hails from Detroit, Michigan and was a first round pick in the 1994 NBA Draft. No matter where life takes them, they are madly in love.

After an All-American career at Michigan, Rose played for the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, and Phoenix Suns.

Meanwhile, Qerim earned her bachelor’s degree from UConn and her master’s from Quinnipiac University before becoming a famous sports anchor. She started her career with the CBS Sports Network.

They are currently both employed by ESPN.

The LaVar Ball Incident

Molly Qerim’s career and rise to fame has been impressive, but it hasn’t come without controversy. Her biggest breakthrough came with ESPN’s First Take, but nothing was more polarizing than an incident involving LaVar Ball on the program in 2019.

Ball, the father of former Los Angeles Lakers and current New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball, was on the show talking about his son. He then made an inappropriate comment to Qerim.

“You can switch gears with me anytime,” Ball told Qerim on First Take.

The entire situation, especially Ball’s comments, stirred up plenty of controversy. ESPN even went as far as saying the network doesn’t plan on inviting Ball on air in the future. Qerim’s husband, Jalen Rose, defended his wife on Instagram Live, via Yahoo! Sports.

“Molly talks to TMZ, and they ask her a question about, ‘How do you feel about LaVar being banned?’ She clearly said, ‘That’s above my pay grade, I don’t know anything about that.’

“Then it graduated to somebody saying that he got banned from ESPN. She and I didn’t send no texts, no emails, no overtures to get anybody banned from ESPN – the company that we work for and don’t own, fools.”

Rose wasn’t done, either.

“Then it went to, ‘Oh Molly, you got a black man banned from ESPN.’ Y’all know she’s married to a black husband, right? She’s covered the NFL, the NBA, college basketball, MMA… she’s been doing this for 15 years. She knows how to navigate. She knows how to take care of herself.

“Somebody pays her to talk about sports. She’s a vet. So this idea that she woke up that morning and like, ‘Oh, I’m going to see what I can do to try to trap LaVar.’ It didn’t have nothing to do with his race, fools… If she felt some type of way about what he said, then she felt some type of way about what he said. And you know what? I’m riding with her.”

Through it all, the two have each other’s backs.

Jalen Rose’s Kids

Jalen Rose and wife Molly Qerim-Rose do not have any children together. However, the former star basketball player has three kids of his own from previous relationships.

Rose has two daughters — Mariah Christian Rose and Gracie Rose — and a son, LaDarius Rose.

Mariah was born to Rose and his ex-partner Mauri Goens. The mother(s) of Gracie and LaDarius are unknown.

Before Rose and Qerim tied the knot, she told ABC’s Good Morning America that she was diagnosed with endometriosis several years ago, which could lead to infertility.

Their relationship is as strong as ever. And as breaking news and more stories unfold, especially during the playoffs and COVID-19 outbreak, both will be right there to talk about it on air, then share it again when they’re together at home.