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Reality TV and NBA royalty don’t usually gel well, but Larsa Pippen has made a career out of living in both worlds. A fixture on The Real Housewives of Miami and the former wife of Scottie Pippen, she’s no stranger to headlines. But this time, the drama feels more raw than scripted. Her friendship circle is cracking, her very public breakup with Marcus Jordan—yes, Michael Jordan’s son—is playing out in real time, and a new accusation has taken things from messy to downright personal.

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For months, the tension between Larsa and her once-close friend, Lisa Hochstein, has been building. It all started when Larsa’s relationship with Marcus Jordan fell apart, and she became increasingly angry that Lisa’s new boyfriend, Jody Glidden, remained friends with him. But in a recent, exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Lisa Hochstein fired back with a stunning and deeply personal allegation: that Larsa was so consumed by the drama with Marcus that she ignored Lisa’s own family tragedy, “hammering” her with texts while she was at her father’s wake.

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The accusation, if true, paints a damning picture of Larsa Pippen. According to Lisa, while she was mourning the death of her father, Roger, Larsa was relentlessly texting her, not to offer condolences, but to argue about Jody’s friendship with Marcus. “It was so bad,” Lisa told PEOPLE. “Larsa was fighting with me and sending text messages back and forth. I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I’m like, ‘Please stop.’ I had to ask her.”

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Lisa claims that Larsa didn’t even acknowledge her father’s passing during the text exchange. “I’m like, ‘Do you know what I’m doing here?’” Lisa recalled. She said she eventually “got so mad” that she sent Larsa a picture from the wake to prove what was happening. “I’m like, ‘Look, this is what’s going on with my life right now, and leave me alone.’ And I don’t think she even got it then,” Lisa alleged. “She kept on hammering and hammering and arguing.”

Lisa’s boyfriend, Jody Glidden, confirmed her account, calling the confrontation “unbelievable.” “I know when I lost my mom, I just got this big outpouring of support from all of my friends. I can’t imagine being attacked at the same time,” he said. For Lisa, Larsa’s actions were a betrayal that went far beyond the usual reality TV drama. “It was just truly disappointing,” she said. “Larsa is saying that I wasn’t a good friend, and I wasn’t there for her through her breakup. Well, guess what? You’re not there for me through my dad dying. Compare the two of those scenarios.”

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For her part, Larsa sees things differently. In her own interview with PEOPLE, she claims that Lisa was “non-existent” during her very public breakup with Marcus. “When Lisa was going through her hard time, she expected me to be there for her,” Larsa recalled, referencing Lisa’s split from her ex-husband, Lenny. “She would call me all hours of the night. I would be on the phone with her until 2 a.m. We would be on cast trips, and I would be up with her all night while she cried. I rode the roller coaster with her of her going through her divorce.” She feels that when the tables were turned, that support wasn’t reciprocated. “I feel like for me, when I was going through this very public breakup, I don’t feel like she was there for me at all. I feel like she was nonexistent.”

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It’s a classic, he said, she said scenario, one that has clearly fractured a once-close friendship. And as their relationship continues to crumble, Larsa is busy building a new empire, one that puts her in direct competition with the father of the man who is at the center of this drama: Michael Jordan.

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Larsa Pippen takes on Michael Jordan’s empire with $500 tequila

This week, Larsa Pippen officially launched her new luxury tequila brand, Olujo Tequila, a venture that puts her in direct competition with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment, including her ex-boyfriend’s father, Michael Jordan.

Larsa is no stranger to the business world. She’s had a jewelry line, a failed selfie-light business, and a lucrative run on OnlyFans. But this is different. This is a direct shot at the hyper-competitive, celebrity-owned spirits market. And she’s coming in hot. A single bottle of Olujo Tequila, co-founded with Adam Weitsman and Oliver Camilo, comes with a jaw-dropping $500 price tag. That’s not a typo! It’s a clear statement that she’s not just entering the market; she’s trying to dominate the high-end of it.

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That price point immediately puts her in the same conversation as Michael Jordan’s own Cincoro Tequila, a brand he co-founded with the owners of the Lakers and Celtics. Cincoro, known for its sleek, artistic bottle and premium taste, ranges in price from $130 to over $1,600 for its rarest mixes.

But Larsa’s entry-level bottle at $500 makes even Cincoro seem accessible. It also blows past other celebrity brands like Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila (around $50) and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Teramana (around $30). This move is layered with a delicious, almost poetic, irony. Larsa has spent years living in the shadow of the Jordan-Pippen dynasty. Now, fresh off a bitter breakup, she’s launching a brand that directly challenges the house that Jordan built.

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It’s classic Larsa—turn the fallout into fuel. She’s not just sipping tequila, she’s bottling ambition. And this time, she’s not riding anyone’s coattails.

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Diya Thakur

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Diya Thakur is an NBA Beat Writer at EssentiallySports, bringing eight years of on-court basketball experience to her reporting. Guided by the belief that victories fade and stats become footnotes, she shines a light on the stories that build legends at the NBA GameDay NewsCenter, with a sharp eye on the corners of fandom that often go overlooked. Her star coverage includes Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, where she highlights not just their performances but also the narratives shaping women’s basketball. By blending her playing background with journalistic insight, Diya delivers coverage that connects deeply with fans while capturing the evolving pulse of the game.

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Aaditya Varu

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