Giannis Antetokounmpo has a larger-than-life personality. However, he does draw the line between his professional commitments and personal life. In September, he tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Marriah Riddlesprigger in a small ceremony in Greece. And with the season close, the Greek Freak didn’t have the traditional relaxation to enjoy a relaxing honeymoon. However, in that short span, he understood just how cruel media can be.

While appearing on his brother’s podcast, the two-time MVP revealed having only one and a half days to celebrate their wedding. However, they couldn’t do so without being bombarded by a group of photographers. “I just got married like three-four days ago and they tried to capture like pictures of me. You know I’m trying to always be polite. I understand what they’re doing and I don’t care you know about the picture which is invasion of privacy for sure but I don’t care,” he told Thanasis.

The Bucks stalwart obliged for pictures and felt that would be it. If only that was the case. While trying to navigate through the island, Antetokounmpo recalls the group of photographers screaming his name. It came with a disturbing drawback. “You’re yelling my name and now there’s a thousand people following me,” Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed on the Thanalysis podcast.

Because the 30-year-old wanted to spend quality time with his newlywed, a “zoned out” Antetokounmpo continued to do so through the parade of people. What shocked him though was the aftermath of the incident. “The next day my wife came out ‘You won’t believe what they’re saying about you’. I said what? They saying Giannis is a bad kid and he’s not who he really is and he’s not polite and he didn’t even acknowledge the photographer,” the Bucks star said with a wide mouth.
It was a whirlwind story that portrayed Giannis Antetokounmpo in a false light although he does admit he’s not accessible.

Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to disappear

There are some NBA personalities who enjoy the recurring spotlight. But even for those, living under a constant microscope tends to get tiring. While it does aid their brand, Antetokounmpo values his privacy. Hence, the eight-time All-Star has admitted that once he does announce his retirement, he will “disappear”.

“I want to be like Tim Duncan. Where the hell is Tim Duncan? I don’t know where he is. I want to be like, ‘oh yes, Giannis’ who remembers … I want to play the game and then forget about me. Don’t talk about me,” the one-time NBA champion told SiriusXM.

As far as where Antetokounmpo might have an answer for that too. In 2020, he visited Sweden for a vacation. As usual, the expectation was for there to be a crowd of people following him around. To his shock, the people in Sweden didn’t know who he was. “When I left, everybody was like, ‘Was that Giannis?’” the Greek Freak recalled.

Rather, Giannis Antetokoynmpo felt so confident that he screamed on the streets proclaiming “‘Nobody knows me over here, yeah!”. All he got were a few weird looks and then the former DPOY went back to enjoying his vacation. Yet, the looks Antetokounmpo can live with. What he enjoyed though was the openness to just be himself.

“I was eating hot dogs, walking, sitting on the street, and nobody bothered me which is fun,” he said. That’s exactly how he envisions his retirement life to be. If not Sweden, maybe somewhere else. But one thing Giannis Antetokounmpo can’t do is have people follow him. So once the illuminating career of the Freak ends, an appearance might be rare.