What's the Real Story with Kniko Howard, Draya Michele's Son?

Here's a little story of Draya Michele's life as a mother to Kniko Howard.

It's been a heck of a quarantine period for the world, and there was Draya Michele encouraging everyone to stay put and courage through the storm with some steamy clips for her 8 million Instagram followers. You should listen to her.

Michele's been the talk of the media gossip for many things apart from posting raunchy pictures of herself as a model and promoting brands, including her own, 'Mint Swim'. For one thing, the relationship with her ex-fiancé as well as her second baby daddy, Orlando Scandrick, was something of a spectacle. Yes, it was so much reassuring to see her happy with him.

The on/off relationship turned into an engagement, which didn't last.
Photo Credit: David Crotty, Getty Images

And apart from Scandrick, there've been a lot of discussions as to who her first baby daddy was, linking her past relationships to the moment her teenage son, Kniko Howard was born. Things went overboard when everyone assured themselves, Kniko's father was Gilbert Arenas.

Gilbert Arenas Offered $1 Million for Charity If Anyone Proved Him As the Father of Kniko Howard

With a host of men being linked to Draya Michele in the past, there were many speculations as to who fathered her 15-year-old son, Kniko. Remember, Michele's last name is actually Howard. So, the father's last name was not Howard either.

There was a long list of possible fathers for Kniko Howard, all of them wrong.
Photo Credit: Jeff Kravitz, Getty Images

Michele came off to fame as once the girlfriend of musician Chris Brown, a long time ago. When she moved on, she found herself as the cast member of 'Basketball Wives LA' in 2011. There was this complicated relationship between the former basketball star, Gilbert Arenas, with Draya and the mother of his real baby, Laura Govan.

Spectators connected the dots that weren't even there. Reports flew out in the media about Arenas being the father of Kniko. Everyone kind of settled on the thought, despite the two involved denying everything.

People thought Arenas was the father based on Michele's appearance on 'Basketball Wives LA'.
Photo Source: NBA Live 08

When it went overboard, Arenas first emerged to clear it out that he met Michele only back in 2008 through former Washington Wizards teammate DeShawn Stevenson. "We were [cool] friends," he mentioned in a now-removed Instagram post.

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Celebrity gossip sites claiming he paid $20,000 for a silence agreement might've swayed everyone else too. But not Arenas. He challenged 'Industry On Blast', 'TMZ' and 'Baller Alert' to prove their claims about the hush money. He even put out $1 million as a donation for each of their charities if they could prove their story.

The media outlets took the bet, so he said. But they could never prove it. Tells you the extent to which people could be desperate for a controversial story. He then also explained why Michele was featured on 'Basketball Wives LA' at all.

The challenge died when no one could prove it.
Photo Source: Gilbert Arenas, Instagram

On the other hand, Draya remained adamant about keeping the identity of the real father secret for their welfare. And despite Gilbert's explanation, people would still not stop talking about it.

Then, Michele Had Enough;She Finally Detailed Her Son's Father As Kniko Sr.

The 35-year-old featured on 'Basketball Wives LA' until 2015 as the discussions about Kniko Howard's father hovered around at a high, and she was likely fed up with it. Despite Gilbert's explanation, it gained more traction than before.

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It was when Jennifer Williams brought it up during a clip of 'The Next 15' in February 2016 that really got into Draya's nerves. Of course, like the time she shot down the plastic surgery rumors, she got off this time too. Jennifer and Laura were castmates on the show.

Later the same day, Draya came out with a lengthy explanation about her precious baby. Turns out, she was 17 when she was pregnant with Kniko, and worked "in the club" for seven years for the money to raise him.

Stating the obvious, she wrote, "Now, judging by how under-developed and young I was, besides living in a very small city in PA….. There's no way in 2002 I got pregnant by some athlete. If I had, there's not a chance in f**king hell I would have wasted 7 years of my life working "in the club" because clearly child support would be on fleek. I have never received A DIME of child support in my life and that's ok."

She then writes about his father, who also has the same name, Kniko Sr., and is now a barber. The father was incarcerated for 10 months when she was 7 months pregnant with him. And finally, she just wanted people to leave the kids out of the drama.

The photo Michele incorporated with the caption.
Photo Source: Draya Michele, Instagram

"I have also NEVER attempted to say anyone other than who my son is named after (yes he's a junior) was the father. My son's father lives in pa and makes an honest living being a barber. This shit is completely embarrassing to me and my family. And I intend on putting this to final rest. I'm pissed that I had to take time from remodeling my office in my brand new 4000 square foot warehouse to even address this. But I've been quiet too long. I've also let people tell "my story" on tv too many times. I'll speak my truths….. You speak your own and keep whatever momentum going by doing that. God bless. Leave the kids out of it for heaven's sake."

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There were just some things she had to get out of the way, no matter what. She was preparing to give birth to her second child, Jru Scandrick, at the time, with ex-fiancé Scandrick.

Michele Was Lashed Out for Bad Parenting and Was Also Arrested for Child Endangerment

The 'Mint Swim' entrepreneur also came under raging fire when she shared a photo from the set of a project she was working on that revolved around school, presumably 'Be Someone', back in May 2019. Her outfit in the photo suggests she was playing the role of a teacher of some sort (sorry if not watching the show bothered you).

There is more than one way a celebrity would be lashed out at.
Photo Source: Draya Michele, Instagram

While there were many praises for her, people were equally getting off on her for taking on the role while allegedly being a bad role model as a parent for Kniko Howard.

As followers know, she complained on Instagram about having to sign off on Kniko's homework, that is a speech recital, twice every day for a month, per his teacher's requirement.

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"I'm all for helping my child with his homework, but at this point, [the teacher] has him harassing me with his speech," she wrote as the Instagram post's caption. "I don't wanna hear it no more! I'm hearing it two times a day for a month straight … Last night he asked me to sign and I said, 'No. Tell your teacher I'm done with this.' And today he doesn't get points because I don't wanna sign it. It's not my damn homework. But it feels like it. What do y'all think?"

She's spending the quarantine period with her kids.
Photo Source: Draya Michele, Instagram

She also included a conversation between her and Kniko, a matter that went trending on Twitter and let people have at her, big time.

The woman was also seeming arrested and charged with a $20,000 fine of endangering the welfare of a child, i.e., the then-seven-year-old Kniko Howard when she left her open home unguarded and didn't babysit him for months while working away from Wyomissing in Philadelphia.

Michele went through with everything. And despite the broken engagement, she won't stop getting her way in the entertainment world. There would bound to be these things happening in any celebrities' past, of course.

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