Getty Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum has a son, Jayson Christopher Tatum Jr., better known as Deuce. The Boston Celtics star’s son was born in December 2017, and his mother is Tatum’s ex-girlfriend, Toriah Lachell Mimms. Mimms was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and she dated Tatum in high school. She now lives in Boston, where she moved when she was pregnant with Deuce.
Here’s what you need to know about Jayson Tatum’s ex-girlfriend Toriah Lachell Mimms:
1. Toriah Mimms Grew Up in St. Louis, Missouri, & Played Soccer & Softball in High School
Toriah Mimms, who sometimes goes by Toriah Lachell, was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, and now works as a hairstylist. According to a bio she wrote on her Instagram, she played varsity soccer throughout high school and also played softball, two years on the junior varsity team and two years on the varsity team. “I really was the 🐐,” she wrote. Her MaxPreps profile states that she attended McCluer North High School in Florissant, Missouri, just outside St. Louis.
An article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 2014 described a softball game involving McCluer North High School and featured quotes from Mimms, who was playing as an outfielder. “We just don’t like to quit, even when it doesn’t look so good,” she told the publication. In 2014, she was named to the Suburban XII, North Division, 2014 all-conference softball as an outfielder.
Mimms, who wrote that her name is pronounced “Tor-E-uh,” described herself in her bio as “SO not a girly girl.” She said she was “Addicted to chocolate cake and will eat it for breakfast with no regrets,” and “Extrovert when I need to be, but introvert mostly.” She added, “Old head at heart ❤️ r&b vibes all day… Tupac is in my top 5 rappers. Idc don’t @ me.”
2. Toriah Mimms Met Jayson Tatum When They Were Both in School & He Spoke About His Reaction to Finding Out She Was Pregnnt in 2017
Tatum went to an all-boys school named Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, Greater St. Louis and it was while he was in high school that he reportedly met Mimms, although they haven’t shared how they met. A Sports Illustrated article from 2015 had a brief mention of Mimms as it stated, “Jayson’s girlfriend, Toriah Lachell, is showing off a picture of her prom dress.”
At the time, Tatum was a junior in high school but he was already considered one of the top prospects across the country, if not the best. The Sports Illustrated article concluded by sharing that Tatum walked Mimms to her car and hugged her, a brief moment as normal teenagers amid the hype surrounding the future NBA star.
Deuce was born in December 2017 but Tatum described finding out that Mimms was pregnant earlier in 2017 when he was still in his freshman season at Duke University. At the time, Tatum said he was set to leave Duke and get drafted into the NBA. It’s unclear when the couple split but Tatum said he was “terrified” to learn of the pregnancy. “I was selfish at first, honestly,” he confessed in an interview with “In Depth with Graham Bensinger.” He said he immediately felt “sick to [his] stomach.”
“I was more worried about getting drafted than I was about being a dad, because my whole life I had dreamed about going to the NBA and the best day of my life was two months away,” he revealed in the interview. “I didn’t tell anybody — I didn’t tell my teammates, the coaches, anything… I didn’t want it to impact where I got drafted.” He said he was worried that NBA teams would think that he’d be distracted as a young father and wouldn’t pick him, which he said was “extremely selfish.”
Mimms shared that she moved from St. Louis to Boston when she was 8 months pregnant with Deuce because that’s where Tatum was. According to Sports Illustrated, Mimms and Tatum have a “healthy co-parenting relationship.”
3. Toriah Mimms Said She Loves Doing People’s Hair & Decided to Go to Cosmetology School After Her Son Was Born
Mimms still lives in Boston, where she works as a hairstylist and owns her own salon. In an introductory post on the Instagram page for her salon, The Curl Bar Boston, Mimms wrote, “My love for hair began with learning to accept, embrace and love my own!” She said she decided to attend cosmetology school after doing her own hair and others’ hair for years. “Years later, I am now a Deva curl certified stylist, Cut it Kinky Alumna, and Rezo Cut certified,” she added. “I pride myself in being the best and always continuing my education.”
Mimms appeared on “The Glow Up Effect” podcast in 2021 and spoke about her passion for hair care and how her career choice came about. “It pretty much started because once I was in middle school, high school, I always had a relaxer cause I had no idea what to do,” she shared. Mimms explained that one of her friends in middle school started embracing her natural curls and she decided to follow suit.
Mimms said she looked at a ton of YouTube videos and began experimenting with her own hair, documenting her work on Instagram. The mother of one said that’s when she started getting requests from people online and in person asking for her help. Someone told her she should think about pursuing a career in hairstyling because they said she’d “light up” when speaking about it.
“At the time I was pregnant with my son, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I was in college,” she revealed. She said she was thinking of a career in teaching or counseling but wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do. Mimms added that when she was 8 months pregnant, she moved to Boston and started cosmetology school just two weeks after Deuce was born.
Mimms explained that she wanted to do the course as soon as possible and get it over with when her baby was really young so she’d be able to have a more flexible schedule afterward. According to her Instagram, she graduated from the program in August 2018.
4. Toriah Mimms Is a Mother to Deuce, Who She Shares With Jayson Tatum
Tatum and Mimms’ son Deuce might be the most popular child across the NBA and he’s certainly beloved by all Celtics fans. The TD Garden celebrity is of course well known to fans but Tatum isn’t Deuce’s only parent proudly showing off his boy. Mimms has also posted a few photos and videos of the 5-year-old on her Instagram page and her business’s Instagram page.
In one post, she showed a video of herself doing her son’s hair and captioned it, “My favorite client 💓 my baby said he wanted that CURL BAR EXPERIENCE 💁🏽♀️ no prob, mommy got you 😘.”
Mimms also has a TikTok page, where she posts more videos of her personal life and her adventures with Deuce. In March 2023, she shared a video series of her trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with a friend and their kids. Some of the videos on her page featuring Deuce have picked up over a million views.
5. Toriah Mimms Now Works as a Hair Stylist at Her Own Salon in Boston
Mimms is now the owner of her own hair bar and she told “The Glow Up Effect” podcast that her goal was to be her own boss, develop her own brand and be in complete control of her business and schedule.
She shared that she loves hair and is constantly researching new techniques as she wants to learn and improve. “I love taking classes all the time, there’s always new techniques and it’s not a one size fits all,” she shared on the podcast.
On May 1, 2022, Mimms posted that the salon had been open for exactly one year and said, “so much has happened in the past year and we wouldn’t have made it this far without our amazing clients support, so for that I am forever thankful.” She said she loved being able to provide a space for women and men to feel “SEEN, celebrated and embraced.”
Mimms also developed a course called “The Curl Bar Curl Course: Case Study” that aims to teach people how to care for their hair at home.