This archive report was first published on 16 May 2020.
On March 27, Melissa Rios, the 31-year-old mother of Dwight Howard's six-year-old son, tragically passed away after suffering an epileptic seizure at her home in Calabasas, California.
Howard, a role player for the Los Angeles Lakers, attended Rios' funeral in Reno, Nevada, before returning to his off-season home in Georgia with his son.
"It's extremely difficult for me to try to understand how to talk to my son, who's six years old, just about the whole situation," Howard said in a conference call with reporters on Friday.
Howard, who has five children with five different women and has been involved in various child support and custody battles, expressed his desire to be present for his son and Rios' family during this difficult time.
"There was no way I could not be there for my son and even for her family," Howard said. "I definitely would've felt like that would've been bad. She deserves and he would deserve better if I didn't do that."
Howard was averaging 7.5 points per game with the Lakers when the NBA season was shut down on March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
