NBA legend Charles Barkley and his wife Maureen Blumhardt tied the knot in 1989. The couple welcomed their only child, Christiana Barkley, in the same year. The former power forward is one of the best players to ever grace the NBA. Barkley was a superstar from his high school days to college and then the league. So it is safe to say the Chuckster knows what it takes to make it in the world of basketball. Therefore, Barkley was excited when his wife gave birth to a girl. He imagined his daughter would be as tall as him and dreamt of helping her become the greatest women’s basketball player ever. But did Christiana follow in her father’s footsteps?

Who is Charles Barkley’s daughter, Christiana Barkley?

The NBA Hall of Famer recently talked about his hoop dreams for his daughter. He revealed Christiana Barkley was taller than kids her age growing up, as Barkley imagined. So the 1993 NBA MVP put her through the paces. However, his daughter looked a bit disinterested. So Barkley asked her if she liked the game of basketball. To his dismay, Christiana revealed that she “hates” the game her father loves so much. Understandably, the 11x NBA All-Star was a bit disappointed. However, he understood that his daughter had her own dreams and helped her pursue them.

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After high school, Christiana graduated from Villanova University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2011. She then earned a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 2017. Interestingly, she once reportedly worked for Turner Sports as a sales assistant. According to a report from Insider Lyfe, she is now the director of writing and a senior account manager at The Koppelman Group.

Christiana, 34, tries to stay away from the spotlight despite her father’s celebrity status. However, she is a philanthropist who has been seen attending multiple charitable events along with her family.

How did Charles Barkley’s daughter receive her unconventional name?

Most people would agree that the name Christiana is a bit unconventional. So a lot of people were curious about how Charles Barkley came up with that name for his only child. The Philadelphia 76ers legend once revealed the reason behind naming his daughter. And, hilariously, his reason was unconventional as well. Barkley disclosed that his daughter was named after Christiana Mall in Delaware because he liked the mall a lot.

He said, “Well, she’s named after a mall in fairness. There’s a Christina Mall in Delaware that I used to always go by and that’s how she got her name, Christina.” Furthermore, the basketball analyst recently talked about another name he had in mind during a podcast appearance. Barkley noted he would like to name his daughter Sydney if he ever had another child.

Christiana Barkley’s journey to marriage

Even though Christiana Barkley hated playing basketball, she was still a huge fan of the game. And this led her to her future husband Ilya Hoffman. During her time at Villanova, Christiana and Hoffman met during a basketball game in 2016. Interestingly, Hoffman was not a massive sports fan and did not realize who Charles Barkley was at the time. However, he was aware of his iconic role in Space Jam. When he spoke to her, he was immediately impressed with her personality and the two started dating soon.

A few months later, Hoffman and Christiana met each other’s family and announced their relationship. In 2019, the couple took another step in their relationship and moved in together. Hoffman asked Charles and Maureen for permission to marry their daughter during a Christmas trip. On May 15, 2020, during Christiana’s birthday celebrations, Hoffman got down on one knee and proposed to her and she said yes. Then on March 6, 2021, the love birds tied the knot in front of family and friends.

Christiana Barkley’s brutal response to her father on live TV

The former NBA superstar has a close relationship with his daughter, Christiana. However, that did not stop her from calling him out on television once. Chuck is loved around the world for always speaking his mind and his funny antics. However, this has sometimes landed him in hot waters. That was exactly the case when he commented that women exaggerate the pain of being pregnant a few years back. Furthermore, he claimed that playing with an ankle sprain was harder than childbirth.

Even though it was a joke from Charles, Christiana wanted to respond after watching the retro clip. During Mother’s Day celebration on NBA on TNT, the crew shared a video clip of Christiana’s response to her father’s claims. Holding her baby, she said, “I just want to say that a sprained ankle is a spa treatment compared to giving birth to an actual baby. And an NBA game is 48 minutes and some women, myself included, are in labor for 48 hours, so just wanted to clear that up. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

She was clearly not impressed with her father’s comments and let it all out. Charles understood his daughter was not happy and made a frugal attempt to pacify her with no success.