The eyes of Allexis Holmes hold pain and tears. She sat on her couch, surrounded by a paper ring of court documents and beyond that, a larger ring of colorful children's toys. Behind the dead-bolted door, a shattered woman was losing hope quickly.
Allexis is the ex-wife of Richaun Holmes, the 6-foot-10 center for the Kings whom Allexis accuses of abusing her and their 6-year-old son. Holmes enjoys support from fans and the Kings organization; Allexis does not.
"That aggressive defender that they love?" she said in an exclusive interview with The Bee. "That does not turn off when these men go home.
She does not seem to be a "gold digger," as some have accused her of. Nor a woman seeking revenge or attention. Hers is the home of a terrified mother who keeps her door locked at all times and the blinds closed. It is the home of a child whose mother says he runs to his room whenever there's a knock, fearing it is his father coming to take him away.
Allexis is suing Holmes in separate custody and domestic violence cases. And she is seeking a restraining order on behalf of their son, pertaining to an alleged incident on Feb. 6 when Allexis said he came home from a visit with his father with a bloody injury over his left brow. (We are not identifying the child because he is a minor and an alleged victim of abuse.)
She said her son said his father hit him, and that Richaun told her it was merely the boy's eczema flaring up.
"I'm begging, begging Richaun. Please just find a common ground. It's hurting our son," Allexis said. "I don't want child support anymore ... I will start from scratch."
The Sacramento Kings announced Richaun Holmes was shut down for the remainder of the season due to "personal reasons" on March 18, inviting speculation from fans and media as to what those reasons might be. The Bee reported last week that they were, in fact, pending domestic violence and custody lawsuits against him.
"I never respond to allegations but when it comes to my son I gotta speak," Holmes tweeted — and then quickly deleted — after the allegations against him became public. "You have to be goofy as hell to believe that about me ... my heart BEATS for my son ... to hear my name tarnished at his expense is where I draw the line!"
Ann Moder, one of Richaun Holmes’ attorneys, describes him as an “exemplary parent” and said that Allexis is merely seeking attention by filing “baseless claims.” Last week, the Kings released a statement stating that the organization is, “against any form of assault and domestic violence. We take these allegations seriously and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
Holmes’ lawyer did not respond to further requests for comment.
A Sacramento Superior Court commissioner dismissed the motion for a permanent restraining order Wednesday, ruling the Los Angeles courts were the appropriate venue for the request. There, a judge has already ruled on the dispute and appointed a custody evaluator to determine whether the child requires protection.
Friends who 'come to pray'
The apartment of Allexis Holmes is hard to find. A Bee photographer and I knocked on the wrong door at first before calling and confirming that she was actually in another building entirely.
Somewhere inside this complex was Holmes' modest apartment and a young woman who felt abandoned in a town that celebrates her accused abuser. Some fans call her a liar.
When we finally found the right door, it took a minute for Allexis to open it. I worried we knocked on the wrong one again.
She later told us it was because I knocked a little too hard and sent her son running for cover in his room. Allexis said she had to coax him out and assure him that the photographer and I were just mommy's friends who "come to pray with her."
These days, prayer is important in the Holmes apartment. Allexis prays that her son will be safe. She prays that she can see her mother again soon, and return home to Atlanta someday. She prays that Richaun Holmes will get the help for his alleged anger issues and narcissism that she said he so desperately needs. And she prays that her son will not remember the last two-plus years of court dates, arguments and accusations between his parents.
"If anything, I'm ashamed," Allexis said. "I'm ashamed for not saying anything sooner."
Allexis said she supported her former husband by teaching while he got his basketball career underway. Now, she's using those skills to homeschool her son while they're forced to stay in Sacramento by a court order.
She worried about what she could and could not bring with her to a local domestic violence shelter where she planned to stay before her court date. She said she received credible threats from people who knew where she lived. Allexis only knew she couldn't bring her son's iPad because she believes Richaun turned on its tracking device.
Allexis is scared and horrified. But more than anything else, she said that she is ashamed.
"I am ashamed of myself for being loved bombed for years by a narcissist. As soon as he got his first NBA check, I became a mental and physical punching bag," she said. "And his mother said it will be better after the first five years. She sat me down and told me that it was gonna get better if I could just ignore the first five years of abuse."
'Because somebody dunks?'
Allexis spoke about allegedly abusive incidents. She claimed Richaun punched the wall behind her head when she was pregnant and once threw a drink in her face in front of friends and family. These, she said, were red flags she can see more clearly now.
She described shocking incidents I will not repeat here because her personal shame is too great, and she requested we stopped recording. She said no one believed her then, so she kept quiet, and claimed she tried to protect her ex-husband's budding career by allowing him to pay for a private judge in Los Angeles Superior Court.
But now she said her son has been hurt, too, and she won't stay quiet any longer. Between tears and catching her breath, her hopes poured out.
"(Richaun) has enabling people in his life that will let him get away with smacking them upside the head because it's a $40 million contract," Allexis said.
She then looked straight at the camera, speaking directly to Richaun.
"You're not a concerned father. You're a narcissist control freak," she said. "You have been taught and trained to be that way. And I pray that the celebrity culture dies. ... Because somebody dunks well, you don't believe that they hit their child?
"I made a quiet exit out of our divorce in 2019. I don't care for anybody to know that I was your ex-wife," Allexis continued. "I have no traces of you or anything that is (involved in) my life. And now I have to (have him in my life). But I will do anything for my child. I will do anything to let the world know."
Behind us, her son played with a few toys, and he clearly had an outsize role in decorating the apartment. It's filled with toys and learning materials and a scooter that was leaning against the couch. A tub full of Play-Doh sat next to the door, and colored tiles spilled off the small kitchen table onto the floor.
He's a boisterous 6-year-old boy, but still so sweet that your heart could melt in his big brown eyes. He's extremely tall for his age, and will likely look a lot like his nearly 7-foot-tall father someday.
Allexis said other NBA wives and girlfriends tell her they can't believe she actually divorced Richaun. Some of them have it worse but continue to stay in their relationships.
"My soul is not for sale," Allexis said. "My face is not for sale. My spirit is not for sale for you to break it down and beat it down. There is not a (basketball) game in this world that I want to go to bad enough to let me and my son be beaten on for."
