During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored ahead of his match against Derek Chisora at the O2 Arena in London, heavyweight boxer Deontay Wilder revealed the story behind the conception of his daughter Naieya, who was born with spina bifida.
When asked about the impact his daughter had on his life, Wilder disclosed details he said her mother still does not know he is aware of.
“It had a strong impact on my life because I chose to keep her. Her mother didn’t,” Wilder said. “Her mother tried to set me up, you know, to have the baby. She ejected my sp*rm in her and ran in the bathroom and locked the door and that’s how we had her.”
He then added: “Truth be told, she don’t even know I know this.”
Wilder explained how he came to learn this, saying he had read the mother’s journal without her knowledge.
He stated, “This particular time, she chose that she wanted to have a baby by me because I was the best thing that ever came into her life. Most of her relationships only last for two months or whatever because she was a promiscuous woman. I didn’t know it at the time. I only found out this thing by reading her journal. She didn’t know that I read her journal either.”
Wilder said the mother did not take proper care of herself during the pregnancy. He stated, “She was pregnant with my daughter, but she didn’t do all the right things to, you know, take her prenatal vitamins and things, the nutrients and the minerals that needed for my daughter to stay healthy. My child ended up with spina bifida.”
When the couple were informed of the diagnosis, Wilder said he chose to keep the child against the mother’s apparent indifference.
“Going into the doctor’s office, we had an opportunity to terminate the pregnancy, but it’s just something in my heart. I just felt like she deserved to live,” he said. “Her mother had no remorse, had no feelings about it because she didn’t even think I was going to make the decision that I made. We were still in college, so she probably thought that I was going to terminate the pregnancy so she can attempt to trap me again.”
Wilder said the experience redirected his life entirely. He stated, “When I dedicated myself to having my child, that was it. That was my whole life. That was everything.”
Despite doctors saying his daughter would never walk, Wilder said she has far exceeded those expectations. “My daughter’s 21. She just got a license. She’s about to have a job as well. She got her own home. What more to say? It’s a beautiful thing,” he noted.
