Who are Derek Fisher's children? Marriage to Gloria Govan welcomes two step-kids!

NBA coach and former player Derek Fisher recently married his fiancée of three years, reality TV star Gloria Govan, who was previously wedded to pro basketball player Matt Barnes. In 2017, he opened up to People magazine about his daughter’s battle with cancer – but how many children does Derek Fisher have altogether?

Derek Fisher has two children with ex-wife Candace Fisher

Los Angeles Sparks coach and manager Derek Fisher recently tied the knot with reality star Gloria Govan. The pair married in Malibu on Saturday just gone.

Fisher and Govan do not have any children as a couple – yet. However, he has children of his own, two of which he shares with ex-wife Candace Fisher.

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Tatum and Drew Fisher are twins, and recently turned 15. The Fishers’ daughter, Tatum, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer, when she was 10 months old, in 2007.

How did the Fisher family cope with daughter Tatum’s cancer diagnosis?

In search of the best medical treatment and familial support possible, the family relocated to Los Angeles. 

That meant Derek and Candace, the twins Tatum and Drew, plus two more: Candace has a son from a previous relationship with Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, while Derek has another daughter, Chloe Fisher.

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In 2017, when Tatum was 11, Fisher spoke at length about her cancer, and his decision to leave the Utah Jazz, to People magazine.

“Ultimately, the decision was easy once I decided my child and my family came first”, he said. “What was best for the team and what people were going to think was irrelevant.”

However, Derek Fisher talking about his daughter’s cancer didn’t go down well with Candace. She claimed that he was “exploiting” their daughter’s illness for the sake of publicity.

Who are the other children in Derek Fisher’s family?

Derek and Candace married on 19 February, 2005, but they each brought another child to the relationship.

Before he and Candace had Tatum and Drew, Derek had daughter Chloe Fisher, from a previous relationship. 

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Marshall Faulk Jr, meanwhile, is the son of Candace Fisher and Marshall Faulk, whose ex-wife Lindsay Stoudt Faulk went on to have a child with former Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas. Arenas then had four children with his ex-fiancée, Laura Govan. Laura Govan is the sister of Gloria Govan, who just married Derek Fisher – which brings us back to base.

Derek and Candace divorced in 2015. He filed for divorce on 18 March 2015, a month after their 10th wedding anniversary, while she filed her own documents days later.

What about Gloria Govan’s children?

Govan herself has two children, twins, whom she shares with former MBA player Matt Barnes.

Govan and Barnes first met when she was 12. They entered into a relationship in 2006, and welcomed twin boys Carter and Isaiah two years later. Govan and Barnes married in 2013, but announced their separation after just two years.

Custody complications dragged out over a period of months. 

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For their part, Gloria’s twins Isaiah and Carter have – or had, until April 2017 – a children’s clothing line called Kelly Michael.

Bruno Cooke

Bruno Cooke has been a freelance journalist since 2019, primarily with GRV Media. He was an early contributor to The Focus, and has written for HITC, Groundviews and the Sheffield University newspaper – he earned his MA in Global Journalism there in 2021. He’s the Spoken Word Poetry Editor for The Friday Poem, and self-published his debut novel Reveries in 2019, which his mum called both a “fine read” and “excellent Christmas present”. Bruno has lived in China, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and likes, among other things: bicycle touring, black and white Japanese films, pub quizzes, fermentation and baklava. In 2023, Bruno will set off with his partner on a round-the-world cycle.