Ayesha Curry: Stephen Curry’s Wife Steps More Into The Spotlight As Warriors Advance Toward Second Straight NBA Title

Ayesha Curry is becoming much more than just Stephen Curry’s wife.

As the Golden State Warriors guard led his team from a Western Conference bottom-dweller to a powerhouse on the verge of their second consecutive NBA title, his wife has taken a progressively larger role and now is turning into a star in her own right.

Seen mostly in television cutaways during the 2015 NBA Finals, Ayesha Curry is now moving out of her husband’s long shadow to become a media personality herself, with a large following online and even her own television show in the works.

Ayesha Curry made headlines this week when she stepped into the growing tension between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Meeting in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year, the teams have developed quite a bit of bad blood that led to a scuffle in Game 4 between LeBron James and Draymond Green.

James stepped over a fallen-down Green, prompting the Warriors forward to deliver a swipe to LeBron’s groin area. Green was suspended for Game 5, and James later insinuated that Green was simply too sensitive.

That draw a sharp rebuke from Green’s teammates, and Ayesha Curry even stepped into the flap. After Warriors guard Klay Thompson called out James, the Cavaliers star responded that he would “take the high road.”

Ayesha Curry apparently found that to be a bit ironic.

High Road. invisible bridge used to step over said person when open floor is available left to right.

— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) June 12, 2016

But Ayesha Curry is more than just a pretty NBA wife defending her husband and his teammates. She has a large following of her own, with 3.4 million followers on Instagram and her own lifestyle blog.

In April, Ayesha Curry announced that she would be taking an even bigger stature, with her own show on the Food Network in the development phases.

“Thank you so much for your kind words! I am so excited about my @CookingChannel #foodnetwork show!!! Stay tuned for details,” Curry told fans.

“I’ve been cooking since I was 12 years old for my entire family and now cook for my own little family and I’m thrilled to share it with you,” she added. “For anyone who truly knows me, they know food is my way of making people feel great and warm and happy.”

But though she has stepped into the spotlight more in the last two years, Ayesha Curry said she and Stephen maintain as much normality as possible. In an interview with the Undefeated, Ayesha said the family’s faith is a cornerstone of their day-to-day lives and that Stephen is able to keep his priorities beyond basketball.

“After his speech [accepting the MVP award], we had a dinner and he didn’t say much about it,” Ayesha Curry said. “It was just like the basics of trying to win this championship. So even in our house that’s not much talked about unless there’s a game on. Everything’s very normal around here.”

Family is very important for Stephen and Ayesha Curry as well. The couple has two young daughters — as anyone who watched the 2015 NBA Finals knew when they saw the very pregnant Ayesha — and constantly juggle family and basketball. That was on display during last year’s NBA Finals as well, as Stephen famously brought his young daughter Riley to the podium for a postgame press conference.

Stephen Curry relayed the story to Parents magazine.

“I have to walk past the family waiting room to get to the interview room, and Riley wanted to hang out with me. She had that look, like she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. So I said, all right, come with me. She sat up there, and that’s when her personality shined bright. I tried my best to answer the questions even while feeling under the table and checking out of the corner of my eye—where is Riley? She’s got a great sense of humor. Now she’s the star of the family. If we go somewhere without her, the first question people ask us is, ‘Where’s Riley?’ “

If Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors can close out the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, then Riley and Ayesha Curry could be seeing even more of the spotlight.

[Image via Instagram/Ayesha Curry]