As an athlete, Jayson Tatum says that his parents, Justin Tatum and Brandy Cole-Barnes, gave him tough love that helped him do well.

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When Justin and Brandy had Jayson on March 3, 1998, in St. Louis, they were both still in college. Justin and Brandy never lived together and finally broke up, but as a child, the Boston Celtics star went to both of his parents’ schools. While his dad played basketball at Saint Louis University, he would hang out with him in the locker room. He went to school with his mom at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Jayson calls himself a “mama’s boy,” and in November 2016, he told ESPN that Brandy is his “best friend.” He said, “I’m the biggest mama’s boy ever, and I’m proud to say it.”

When he was younger, the NBA star had a bit of a rougher time with his father. His mother raised him most of the time; he never lived with his father, who went back to the U.S. from Europe after 8 years of professional basketball play in the Netherlands. Jayson says that his father pushed him further in his work, even though he gave him tough criticism and trained him in coaching techniques.

“He saw the potential in me before I saw it in myself, so having him be that tough on me in basketball really you know, made me tougher on and off the court,” Jayson said to KSDK.

Find out everything you need to know about Justin Tatum and Brandy Cole-Barnes, who are Jayson Tatum’s parents.

When Jayson was born, they were in college.

According to WCVB, Brandy was ready to go to the University of Tennessee with a full athletic scholarship when she finished from University City High. She had been on the varsity volleyball team for four years. Besides that, she was the president of her senior class and one of the top five students in her class.

ESPN says that she found out she was pregnant with Jayson just a few weeks after graduating from high school. Instead of going away to college, she chose to get her degree in political science and communications in St. Louis. To pay for school and nursery, she worked part-time jobs on the side.

“It was really hard, but I knew I had to do it for both of us,” she told the news source.

Brandy used to bring Jayson to class with her when she was a student, and she continued to do this all through college, including when she went to law school and business school. In an April 2016 article for The Players’ Tribune, Jayson wrote about the time he spent in class with his mum. He said, “I remember sitting in the back of her classes, eating snacks or immersing myself in books or video games.”

“I kept quiet, listening in here and there — to me, most of her professors seemed boring and talked a lot,” he said. “But I had to pay attention to my own things, and she did too.” It seemed fine. That’s what we did. We went to class together when my mom couldn’t pay for a babysitter and Grandma had to work.

At this point, Justin was a student at Saint Louis University and played basketball for the school. Jayson would be able to spend time with his dad in the locker room and on the court, and he would be able to hear the pre-game statements out loud. But his mum raised him most of the time when he was young.

If Jayson had teamed up with SoFi in February 2024 and given them $1 million to help build “family-sustaining wealth,” he told PEOPLE that the programme would help people buy their own homes, which he said would have been “life-changing” for him and his mom.

“I’m blessed to be in a position to help others from St. Louis, especially single-parent households like the one my mom raised me in,” said he.

Justin was a great basketball player.

Being a star in the NBA is something Jayson did just like his dad did. Larry Hughes, a former NBA star, was Justin’s basketball teammate in high school at Christian Brothers College. Hughes will be the godfather of Justin’s kid. He then played basketball in college at Saint Louis University, where he also became a father and helped his basketball career grow.

After graduating from college, Justin played professional basketball in the Netherlands for three years. Brandy would go with Jayson to the Netherlands to see his father. It was “tough” for Justin to be in the Netherlands for 10 months of the year and not be with his son, said Ladue News. During his free time while he was abroad, he helped teach youth teams. He brought these skills back to the U.S. with him as he changed careers and became a coach instead of a player.

Once his professional career was over, he became an assistant basketball coach at Christian Brothers College, where he went to school, for the 2006–2007 season before taking a job at Soldan International Studies High School. In the end, Justin went back to his old school as head teacher, a job he has held for more than 10 years in a row, according to his website. For more than ten years, he has also put on school camps where kids can learn basketball and make new friends.

Jayson’s coach was Justin, which made their bond different.

As Jayson grew bigger, his father became his trainer and coach to help him reach his goal of becoming a professional basketball player. He said that neither his mother nor his father “took it easy” and “were extremely tough” on him, especially his father. In October 2022, Jayson told Graham Bensinger the truth about how his father’s teaching “put a strain” on their relationship.

“I feel like I missed out on a father-son relationship,” said he. “My dad and I only ever went to games, practice and the barber chair.” We didn’t visit any theme parks. All we did was play hoops. We didn’t go on picnics, fish, or have real father-son talks.

Jayson said that his dad would swear at him and make fun of him in front of his friends, even throwing the ball at him. “In his eyes, he wanted me to be the toughest,” he said. I had to be the best for him.

“And that was his way … like if he made me upset, I would play better and in a sense, I did,” he said. “I’d be so mad. I would play better if I got mad.

Even though Jayson had a rough relationship with Justin as a child, he says that the tough love he got from Justin is what made him successful today. He said, “He was so tough on me, which I appreciate, because I wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t.”

In the years since then, Jayson and his dad have become very close, and their relationship has been fixed.

Brandy is a lawyer.

Brandy has a lot of different degrees, including one in law that she got in 2010. She often had Jayson with her while she studied for law school. He would look through some of her books.

For Bleacher Report, she talked about a time when he told her he didn’t want to read “these kind of books” and only wanted to play basketball. She would tell him, “Well, you better work really hard.”

Justin has two more kids.

Aside from Jayson, Justin has two other kids: a son named Jaycob and a girl named Kayden. Jaycob played football in high school at Christian Brothers College, the place where his father went to school. They won two state titles while he was on the team. His father’s webpage says that he now plays football at Western Illinois University.