The “tough love” that Jayson Tatum received from his parents, Justin Tatum and Brandy Cole-Barnes, is what he credits for his current level of athletic success.

The “tough love” that Jayson Tatum experienced from his parents, Justin Tatum and Brandy Cole-Barnes, is what he owes to his current level of athletic accomplishment.

On March 3, 1998, when both Justin and Brandy were still attending college and residing in St. Louis, they became parents to a son named Jayson. The Boston Celtics player went to both of his parents’ schools when he was a child, despite the fact that his parents never lived together and finally ended up divorcing each other. He accompanied his mother to classes at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and he accompanied his father to Saint Louis University to hang out in the basketball locker room there.

In an interview in November 2016 with ESPN, Jayson, who describes himself as a “mama’s boy,” said that Brandy is his “best friend.”” He said, “I’m the biggest mama’s boy ever, and I’m proud to say it. I’m the biggest mama’s boy ever.”

While he was growing up, the relationship between the NBA player and his father was rather more complicated. Because his father moved to the United States when Jayson was eight years old after he had played basketball professionally in the Netherlands, he never shared a home with his father. His mother was the primary caregiver for him throughout his childhood. Despite having to endure his father’s severe criticism and teaching methods, Jayson attributes his father with being the driving force behind him progressing farther in his career.

“He saw the potential in me before I saw it in myself, so having him be that tough on me in basketball really, you know, made me tougher on and off the court,” Jayson said in an interview with KSDK. “He saw the potential in me before I saw it in myself.”

The following information includes everything there is to know about Jayson Tatum’s parents, Justin Tatum and Brandy Cole-Barnes.

When Jayson was born, they were both enrolled in college.

According to WCVB, Brandy was prepared to go to the University of Tennessee with a full athletic scholarship when she graduated from University City High School since she had spent the previous four years competing on the varsity volleyball team at University City High. She was also one of the top five students in her graduating class, in addition to serving as president of her senior class.

ESPN reports that she received the news that she was expecting Jayson just a few short weeks after she received her diploma from her high school. She decided against moving away from St. Louis in order to pursue a degree in political science and communications at a local institution there. Instead, she has been working part-time jobs in order to help pay for childcare and her education.

She revealed this information to the source, saying, “It was really difficult, but it was what I felt like I had to do for both of us.”

The practice of bringing Jayson to class was one that Brandy had begun during her time as an undergraduate student, and she continued it all the way through her graduate studies, both in business school and in law school. Jayson reflected on his time spent in school with his mother in an article that he penned for The Players’ Tribune in April of 2016. The article was published there. The author said that she would often find herself sitting in the back of her teacher’s sessions, either munching on snacks or immersing herself in literature or video games.

He stated, “I kept quiet, listening in here and there — to me, most of her professors seemed boring and talked a lot,” and I did the same. “However, she had hers to concentrate on, and I had mine to focus on. It seems to be the norm. Then, this is exactly what we did. Because my mother did not have enough money to pay for a babysitter while she was working, my grandmother and I would attend school together.

At the period in question, Justin was a student at Saint Louis University in addition to being a basketball player for the school. During the pre-game discussions that took place in the locker room and on the field, Jayson would have the opportunity to spend time with his father. However, while he was still young, the most of his upbringing came from his mother.