In a raw and revealing appearance on the From Christal XO podcast, Ayisha Wilkins pulled back the curtain on the painful realities of growing up in the household of Atlanta Hawks legend and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins. Through her new memoir, The Price of Privilege, and this podcast, Ayisha got honest about being raised by a multi-millionaire sports icon. She detailed how her father’s unchecked status, financial success, and complex family dynamics may have created resentment between him and his children.

While the 9x NBA All-Star earned immortal status as “The Human Highlight Film” during his storied career in Atlanta, Ayisha explained that his off-court persona evolved into something far more difficult for his nuclear family to navigate.

“I think in the beginning he probably did feel that,” Ayisha said, speaking about Dominique having ‘survivor’s remorse’ stemming from his background in the Baltimore projects. “But now I feel like he has more of a crab in a barrel mentality, whereas he doesn’t want anyone to be bigger than him, you know?”

Ayisha revealed, “So, he is like kind of like, you know, no one’s bigger than the program. You can’t be bigger than my program at this point. So because he’s had this success for so long and he’s been this big figure for so long, it’s like now I am the one, and that’s why I mentioned narcissist a lot, because he has developed a narcissistic mentality, you know, and unfortunately, you know, money can bring that out of a person, you know?”

Ayisha acknowledged that while her father began his career with a strong desire to lift his entire extended family out of their humble beginnings, his lack of boundaries ultimately allowed relatives to overshadow his own children and spouses.

“He wants to be known as nice because he… people say that all the time, ‘Oh yeah, I know, he’s a nice guy. Yeah, he’s a nice guy.’ He says yes to everything,” Ayisha shared. “He doesn’t have boundaries. He doesn’t have just lines that shouldn’t be crossed. And because of that, that’s where a lot of the drama in my family came into play, like with his wife and, you know, his family disrespecting her, she disrespecting them, and just a lot of different things because he never had boundaries of either party, not the wife nor the family.”

In her memoir and this interview, Ayisha dove into the financial and emotional neglect she felt alongside her siblings, explaining how extended family members constantly took precedence over Dominique’s kids.

“So, his actual children—like myself, my sister Chloe, you know, my brother—his actual children, you know, it’s like we couldn’t hardly get anything sometimes because it’s like, ‘Oh, you know, I had to give so-and-so this, had to give so-and-so that. So, now y’all got to wait,’ you know?” Ayisha recounted. “And it’s like, ‘But we’re your children. Like, they’re not your kids. We are. Like, we should come before them.’ But his siblings and mom, everyone has always come before anybody, you know? Which is why his relationships don’t last, too.”

Dominique Wilkins’ personal life has long involved a complicated web of relationships and extended family ties. Born in Paris in 1960 to U.S. Air Force Sergeant John Wilkins and Gertrude Baker, Wilkins grew up in Maryland and North Carolina alongside his brother, fellow NBA player Gerald Wilkins, before starring at the University of Georgia and becoming the face of the Atlanta Hawks.

Over the years, Wilkins has been married twice, first to Nicole Berry from 1992 to 2003, and later to Robin Campbell Wilkins in 2006. Across his relationships, Wilkins is the father of five children: Ayisha, Danielle, Jacob Dominique, Chloe, and Alysandra.

Ayisha noted during the interview that her father acted more like a parent to his siblings and mother than a brother, creating a toxic hierarchy where his partners and children were pushed to the back of the line.

“What people don’t realize about my dad, and really all the siblings, is that they may do each other wrong, but at the end of the day, they going to choose each other every time before anybody,” Ayisha explained. “Like, even when the women come in and get these big heads and, you know, think that they’re going to change things, I just shake my head… because you going to find out that eventually, he may ban them for a little bit, but he’s always going to choose them over anybody, including his children.”

While Ayisha has carved out her own space as an entrepreneur and author, her younger brother, 20-year-old Jacob “Baby Highlight” Wilkins, is currently stepping into the national basketball spotlight. The 6-foot-9 forward transferred from his dad’s alma mater, the University of Georgia, to UC Berkeley in 2026.

Jacob has openly discussed charting his own course in basketball rather than living under his father’s massive shadow.

“I feel like me, doing my own thing, and just trying to perform at the best level I can, will write my own ticket,” Jacob previously told local media.