Former NBA player Dwight Howard is engaged.
On Friday (December 20) rapper Amy Luciani — known for her appearance on Love & Hip Hop Atlanta — posted on Instagram various photos and videos featuring the former NBA star. In the first clip, Howard is seen holding Luciani’s hand as she’s wearing an engagement ring.
In addition to announcing their engagement, this post also marks the announcement of the couple’s relationship itself, as they’ve previously kept it private. “I was enjoying you so much out of the public eye but here we are,” the rapper’s caption read.
“Thank you for bringing me back to the word. Anything I say or fuss about, first thing you say is ‘Did you pray about it?’ Then I realized I hadn’t being praying much lately at all. I’m just thankful, happy and ready for everything that’s coming our way. I prayed reallllll deep on a Thursday not knowing 2 days later God would send me a Bible totin, tattood giant with the same heart as me. Thank you.”
Howard responded in the comments section of the post using various emojis including an infinity sign, a heart, and a lock.
He also made his own post to announce the relationship as he shared a few photos of them together at the Den of Thieves 2 premiere in Atlanta. “Happy,” he captioned the post with another infinity and heart emoji.
Between the years 2007 and 2013, Howard had five children with five different women: Braylon, 17, Layla, 14, Jayde, 13, Dwight III “Trey,” 11, and David, 11. All of his children had lived primarily with their mothers until David’s mother died in 2020 and Howard received primary custody.
“It’s a tough situation, obviously,” Howard said in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2017 about not being able to constantly see his children. “I should have been more responsible … But I won’t look at any of them as a mistake. They’re all a blessing to me.”
Recently Howard competed on the 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars alongside his partner, Daniella Karagach. The pair was eliminated during week eight, which was the show’s 500th episode. “I had an amazing experience,” Howard said following his elimination.
Going on to praise Karagach as “an amazing partner,” he added: “A lot of people said we couldn’t do it, and we did it. And for me, that’s a win.”
Throughout his time on the reality dancing show viewers on X (formerly Twitter) had begged others to not vote for him on multiple occasions, using claims that he was the weakest dancer.
Fans were particularly upset to see the most recent Bachelorette, Jenn Tran, being sent home during the show’s Halloween episode over Howard. During the elimination, both Howard and Tran had tied scores for both of their dances, meaning that it was likely fan votes that allowed the NBA star to pull ahead that night.
“DWIGHT SHOULD’VE GONE HOME. JENN WAS ACTUALLY IMPROVING GOD I HATE THIS,” one fan wrote on X after it was announced that Tran would be going home.
