Rudy Gobert Instagram
Rudy Gobert’s family is comprised of his parents, Corinne Gobert and Rudy Bourgarel, and his two older siblings. He does not have a girlfriend, and has never been married. He has no children.
On March 11, the NBA confirmed that Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus. Shortly after, the NBA announced it was suspending the rest of its season.
Gobert plays for the Utah Jazz. He missed Tuesday’s game because of a reported illness. During a pre-game conference, he touched numerous microphones and recorders as an attempted joke. Shortly after, it was announced that he had coronavirus. Now, the Jazz are scrambling to map out how many people Gobert might have interacted with in recent days, from teammates, to members of the media, to Jazz employees, to fans.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Gobert’s Parents, Corinne & Rudy, Split Up When He Was Three Years Old
Gobert is mixed race. His mother, Corinne, is white, and his father is black. Gobert explained that his father’s dashed NBA hopes were what led to his meeting with Corinne. “.. if he went to the NBA, I wouldn’t be here. It’s destiny,” Gobert told The Undefeated. “After that happened, he ended up playing in France. He played in Paris and Saint-Quentin, where he met my mom.”
Gobert’s parents split up when he was three years old. His father moved to Guadalupe after they split up.
When Gobert was 13 years old, he left his mother to play basketball for the French Pro A team Cholet.
2. Gobert Grew Up With His Mother, Corinne
Gobert was raised by his mother, Corinne, in Saint-Quentin, France.
To the Undefeated, Gobert said of the experience of growing up as a mixed race kid in a small town in France. He said,
“I’m mixed. But to the white kids, I was black. France, we have a lot of different ethnicities. A lot of Arabians. People mixed with black. So, there are always some ignorance. It comes from the parents who don’t educate their kids that there are different colors of people. I was never offended by it.
For me, I was just a human being. I always see people as human beings. But with the fact that my dad is black and my mom is white, of course, makes it normal for me. I never really focus on that.”
According to a profile of Gobert by the NBA, his mother Corinne was a hairdresser throughout his childhood, working as a single mom to raise her three children.
“For my mom, it wasn’t easy,” Gobert said. “She sacrificed a lot for me to be able to do the things I wanted to do, for us just to eat.”
3. Gobert Is Originally From Saint-Quentin, a Small Town in France
Gobert is originally from small town in France called Saint-Quentin. Saint-Quentin is a small town in France in the Hauts-de-France region to the North.
In a profile of Gobert for the NBA, fans were able to learn more about Gobert’s upbringing:
The black Mercedes van cruised through the streets of the sleepy town, over brick and stone, toward the outskirts where the highway cuts against golden fields and intersects with Rue Raoul Huguet. When the driver finally stopped in front of a drab government housing project—six stories tall, a block of glass and concrete—the long leg of the town’s most famous son emerged from the vehicle.
Gobert said to the publication, “It’s for people who don’t have a lot of money. I grew up here. Some of my friends had big houses, some didn’t. But I was really happy here. I wouldn’t trade it.”
4. Gobert’s Father, Rudy Bourgarel, Had NBA Dreams of His Own, Which Were Never Realized
According to the Undefeated, Gobert’s father, Rudy Bourgarel, had his own dreams of playing professional basketball. For that reason in particular, he’s followed his son’s professional career very closely.
When asked about what his career meant to his father, Gobert said, “It means everything to him. I can see how proud he is to watch me on television. When I talk about it with him, I feel like I am living his dream. I’m carrying his dream that he wasn’t able to fulfill. It was not just my dream. It was both of ours.”
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Gobert’s father, Rudy, played basketball at Marist College in New York in the 1980s. Marist coach Jeff Bower, an assistant at the school when Rudy was playing there, said to the publication, “Rudy’s father was a player who had terrific physical traits. He had size, strength, good length, the ability to run the floor. He was really an outstanding physical specimen.”
Bower added, “He went undrafted, but he had teams intrigued with his size. He was evaluated and had a chance, with some opportunities as far as camps, but was never able to make the next step.”
After playing basketball in America, Rudy returned to France and completed his military duty. He met Corinne shortly after.
5. Gobert Has Been Tied to Women in the Past; He’s Currently Single
Gobert has never been publicly engaged or married. He does not have any children.
His Instagram is comprised primarily of his life in the NBA: photos of him playing, performing community service, and occasionally posing with Rihanna. In other posts, he calls out his parents, thanking them for how much they’ve done for him over the years.
In one Instagram post, as an apparent part of a Nike “Just Do It” Campaign, Gobert wrote, “Life began in Saint-Quentin, where I was raised by my single mother. Today, I play to make her proud.”