Damian Lillard has become the center of a fresh social media rumor, with an Instagram gossip page claiming the Portland Trail Blazers star is dating Jenny Childs, the ex-girlfriend of former teammate and close friend Gary Payton II.
The claim surfaced through Wax Unfiltered, which alleged that Childs has been living with Lillard for some time and that the nine-time NBA All-Star even shut down one of his restaurants so she could celebrate her birthday there. The same report also said Childs is Gary Payton II’s mother-in-law’s sister, adding another layer to an already messy rumor.
The account further claimed that Lillard and Payton were once close friends and even shared the same agent before Payton and Childs ended their relationship.
None of those claims has been independently verified, and Lillard, Payton II and Childs have not publicly addressed the speculation or confirmed anything about the rumored relationship.
Still, the story spread quickly online, in part because of the connection between Lillard and Payton II. The two guards were teammates with the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2022-23 season, which was Lillard’s final year with the team before he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Payton spent only one season in Portland before returning to the Golden State Warriors, but the pair were widely seen as close during that stretch.
The rumor has also pulled attention back to Lillard’s personal life, which has had some major changes in recent years. For more than a decade, he was with his college sweetheart, Kayla Hanson, whom he met at Weber State University. She stayed with him through his rise from mid-major college standout to one of the NBA’s top guards.
After nearly 10 years together, Lillard proposed in 2020, and the couple married in California in September 2021. They have three children: their eldest son, Damian Lillard Jr., was born in 2018, and twins Kalii Laheem and Kali Emma Lee arrived in January 2021.
Shortly after being traded from the Blazers to the Bucks in 2023, Lillard filed for divorce from Hanson, citing irreconcilable differences. That move came during a difficult stretch for him, as he was also dealing with a cross-country relocation and major personal changes at the same time.
Since then, Lillard has kept his private life mostly out of the spotlight, which helps explain why the latest rumor has sparked so much chatter online. For now, though, there is still no public confirmation or evidence that he and Childs are dating.
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