Courtesy of Maralee Nichols/Instagram
Maralee Nichols Snuggles With Son Theo After Tristan Thompson Was Slammed for Tatum’s B-Day Tribute
Maralee Nichols, the mother of Tristan Thompson’s son Theo, spent some adorable one-on-one time with her baby boy over the weekend as Tristan celebrated his and Khloé Kardashian’s son Tatum’s first birthday.
Maralee, 33, took to her Instagram Stories on Saturday, July 29, to share a sweet photo of herself snuggling with Theo, 19 months. The fitness model looked blissfully happy as she closed her eyes and leaned into Theo, who slept face-down on her shoulder. Then, on Sunday, Maralee shared a video of Theo taking a stroll on the beach and tossing a volleyball over his head as an instrumental version of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” played over the clip.
Maralee’s peaceful weekend with her son came as Tristan, 32, was dragged on Instagram for posting a birthday tribute to Tatum, who turned 1 year old on July 28, after failing to publicly acknowledge Theo on his first birthday in December 2022.
“Happy birthday my son! You are a reminder of what life represents to me. You have taught me every loss comes a lesson and you are my gift. You are my reminder of all of God’s messages. You are the reason that I began my story,” Tristan captioned photos of himself holding Tatum. “The mistakes along the way are lessons not failures. There is no expiration date to reinventing yourself. Tatum your sweet soul reminds me of God’s grace. You are a future king my son and I am so blessed to be your DaDa!”
In the comments, fans slammed Tristan for seemingly favoring Tatum over Theo. “How about your other future king? Didn’t make the cut?” one fan wrote. Another user commented, “Dude are you really not gonna acknowledge your other baby???”
Maralee filed a paternity lawsuit against Tristan in June 2021, revealing that she and the NBA player had conceived a child in March while Tristan was still in a relationship with Khloé, 39. The influencer then gave birth to Theo in December of that year, and Tristan broke his silence on the scandal one month later.
“Today, paternity test results revealed that I fathered a child with Maralee Nichols,” he wrote in a statement in January 2022. “I take full responsibility for my actions. Now that paternity has been established, I look forward to amicably raising our son.”
Tristan has not publicly acknowledged Theo since then. Additionally, in February 2022, Maralee’s rep Harvey Englander told In Touch that Tristan had “done nothing to support his son.”
“He has not made any attempt to meet their son nor has he provided any financial assistance,” Harvey said at the time.
Maralee and Tristan settled the paternity lawsuit in December 2022. Maralee continued to have sole custody of Theo, with Tristan reportedly paying $9,500 per month in child support.
While Maralee has not directly said much about Tristan since the cheating and paternity scandal, she has seemingly thrown shade at both Tristan and Khloé. Back in April, fans believed Maralee gave an indirect response to the lavish fifth birthday party Khloé threw for her and Tristan’s daughter True, which Tristan attended. After Khloé shared several snaps of the event’s giant balloons, dessert stations, and personalized goodies for the guests, Maralee took to Instagram with photos and videos of a beach day with Theo.
“Happiness,” she captioned the carousel. “It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.”
