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Q&A with LaLa Vazquez

Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 1, 2006 at midnight

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Not many know Carmelo Anthony better than his fiancee, MTV personality LaLa Vazquez. Vazquez, who is due to give birth to the couple's first child in March, talked recently with Rocky Mountain News reporter Aaron J. Lopez about her life with Anthony.

How did you and Carmelo meet back in 2004?

LaLa: We actually met through a mutual friend, DJ Clue. He's the deejay for Jay-Z. He introduced us. We were just friends at first. We were just friends for a really long time, and then the friendship escalated into something more.

What was your first impression of Carmelo?

LaLa: He was just finishing his first year in the NBA, but being that I'd been on TV for so long, I've been surrounded by people of his status, so that didn't impress me or (was) why I wanted to get to know him. I just liked him as a person. I got to know him as a person and not as much as a basketball player.

Were you an NBA fan?

LaLa: I was a basketball fan. I liked it, but I wasn't a fanatic, following every player and every game. If it was on, I'd watch it in New York or go to some of the Knick games or the New Jersey Net games with my friends or people from my job just to hang out.

Are you a fanatic now?

LaLa: It's changed to the point where I go to a lot more games to support (Carmelo), and I'm a lot more familiar with everybody playing. A lot of the guys I've met or they've been to my house, so we've established friendships with a lot of people.

What is it about Carmelo that the public does not get to see every day?

LaLa: He's very funny. He's always telling jokes. He dances around the house, makes funny faces - stuff that people, unless they're in our inner circle, don't ever get to see. And he's very considerate and just a kind person. His only concern is making everybody comfortable and happy and being the life of the party, telling the jokes. He's just that type of person.

What was it like watching Carmelo deal with everything that happened in 2004?

LaLa: You mean the drama stuff?

Yes, that would be it.

LaLa: It was hard because I saw how much it affected him and also knowing things that were said about him weren't true. That hurts, but it also made him stronger because after that, he formed more of a backbone and kind of let things bounce off of him.

How proud are you of Carmelo because of his ability to weather the storm?

LaLa: I'm proud of him because it was a difficult time. I'm really happy that we got through that, and I hope to never have to go back to those times again.

How much can be attributed to the media and how much to Carmelo?

LaLa: I think it was a little bit of both. Melo is responsible for his actions, and there were certain things he did that I'm sure if he thought it over again, he would do differently. But that's what life is about, learning from your mistakes. A lot of it was decisions he made and also a lot of it was the media just exaggerating and wanting to find the person to make the bad guy, and he just fit that at that time. Definitely, I wouldn't just blame the media. He had to take into account his actions. He was young and he made a couple bad decisions, but he's learned from them now.

Carmelo gives you much of the credit for being there during his most difficult days.

LaLa: He's so nice. He always tells people that. I don't do it for credit. I was there. I'm going to be around. I'm not just going to come around when the sun is shining. I always tell him that.

How has he changed in the past two years?

LaLa: Melo is a lot more mature now, but that, to me, it comes with age. You get older, you get mature, you've been in a profession for a number of years. You kind of get the scoop on how it works. To me, I notice that he's a lot more involved now with everything in his life, whether it's business or personal. Not that he wasn't before, but now he's like, "Explain this to me. Why can this help me? Why should I do this?" He's asking those kinds of questions now before making decisions.

You and Carmelo got engaged on Christmas 2004. How did he propose?

LaLa: It was the end of the night, and we had already exchanged gifts. Christmas was over. Right before I fell asleep, he was just like, "I want to ask you a question." He did not do the traditional one-knee. That's just not Melo anyway. He said, "I really want to spend the rest of my life with you." I was just looking like, "I know." He's just like, "So, will you marry me?" I was just laughing, and then he pulled out the ring, and I was just like, "Of course, I will." It was so sudden and unexpected. I was caught off guard.

One of Carmelo's close friends jokingly said he was bored while visiting Denver this summer. Is Carmelo settling down?

LaLa: I've never known Melo to be just out all the time. We go out or he goes out here and there, but Melo would rather watch Law & Order and watch The Wire, sit home. When he goes out a lot of times, it becomes a big spectacle, so sometimes you'd rather just stay in your house and enjoy your home. We've set up our home to be a place that we actually like being in. We have a basketball court in our house. We both are very passionate about dogs. We have two Rottweilers. We have a video game room. We have a theater. We have stuff in the house to where we've made the house so comfortable, you can stay in the house and be fine for a week straight and realize, "Oh, my gosh, we haven't even (gone) outside.' "

Is that the double-edged sword of celebrity?

LaLa: It is a double-edged sword. At the same time, I'm sure the flip side . . . nobody would pick the flip side - no one knowing who you are and not having anything. You kind of pick and choose, but we make it work. We still do a lot of normal things, whether it's go to the movies and maybe we'll just have to get there a little after the movie starts and leave 5 minutes before it's over. We make it work, so that we can still try to do as much regular things as possible.

Is fatherhood the next step in Carmelo's maturation?

LaLa: It definitely is. He's very, very excited about the baby and very into everything, from going to all the doctor's appointments to asking questions to wanting to know every aspect about this baby and what we need to do to prepare. I'm blessed to have somebody like that.

Do you think that comes from never knowing his dad (Anthony's father died when Carmelo was 2)?

LaLa: I know that's where it comes from. He loves his dad. He has a picture of his dad on his phone. We have two paintings of his dad in our room. He wants to be everything his dad couldn't be. I think he wants to be that for someone because he knows how growing up, how much he wanted that.

What is Carmelo's greatest strength?

LaLa: His ability to laugh at things. Where some people would break down in certain situations that he's been in or all the things he gets approached with, whether it's people asking for things or people just wanting his time, instead of getting upset about it, he just laughs. That's his way of kind of dealing with it. It amazes me because even in the most stressful situations, he'll calm me down by just laughing and saying, "Babe, come on. There's nothing to worry about." Taking it in stride, that's what I admire most about him.

I'm sure it can be tough being an NBA fiancee, considering all the people trying to get close to Carmelo. Do you worry about that?

LaLa: Groupies? Not really. I know it's there. It's something I don't really put all my energy around because I trust Melo. It's just a way of life. I don't really think too much about it. It's not like I just sit in Denver and when he comes home, I'm sitting there waiting for him. I travel. I do stuff, and we meet up in different places. That keeps our relationship fun, too.

Carmelo's mom is devoted to her religion. Does Carmelo go to church?

LaLa: Melo's definitely a spiritual person who believes in God in his own way. Melo feels like it's not necessarily a thing of you have to go to church every Sunday to be a believer. As long as you say your prayers and live your life a certain way, he's fine with that. He's not against going to church, but a lot of times, it becomes more of a spectacle than him really getting to go enjoy the service.

Carmelo says he goes grocery shopping.

LaLa: Melo's the one who cooks. Melo's the one who goes to the grocery store. That's something he enjoys doing. He loves to cook. He always goes to the grocery store. Usually, he'll go late at night, like midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning, but there's still people in there and there's still people asking for his autograph. But he likes to go.

Trust is important to Carmelo. Was it difficult gaining trust within his inner circle?

LaLa: I think in the beginning I was just a new person coming into his life. It's that initial, "What's going on?" For me to move into the house, it wasn't difficult, but I'm sure it was a transition for everybody because you can't live how you were living before you had a female living in the house. Everybody adjusted. It's just normal for everyone now.

Any predictions for 2006-07?

LaLa: I don't want to put the pressure on him, but definitely All-Star stats this year, maybe a run for MVP.

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