Former NBA head coach and current TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy has revealed his wife Kim died by suicide.
On Friday, Van Gundy paid a visit to Dan Le Batard's South Beach Sessions podcast, where he reflected on his wife's death while revealing she took her own life. According to Van Gundy, he stood by her and never thought he would have to live life without being by her side.
"She took her own life, Dan," Van Gundy said. "I can't imagine that I'll ever get over that. ... It was devastating....My entire adult life, I trace everything, job changes, kids, everything. I was with her, and she was by my side. I never, ever envisioned that I was going to live any day in my life without Kim."
He added, "I knew she was going through a tough time, but I still never envisioned that happening. Even now, it's been eight months, and I struggle to come to grips with the fact that I'm never going to see her again. I'm trying hard to stay connected."
Van Gundy explained that there are pictures of his wife all over his home, as he is intent on remembering what her voice and what her smile was like. However, the most important thing he's trying to rememeber is the values that his wife lived by.
"She taught me a lot. And I want to live her values and a life that she would be proud of," he said. "And my kids at times over the last eight months, at times, not often, but I think genuinely from their point, I'll do something and they'll say, 'Mom would have really been proud of you for that one.' And that above anything else really makes me feel good, because my wife was an incredible person, and the loss is huge."
Van Gundy met his wife in 1984, and she followed him throughout his basketball journey, from serving as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat to head coaching gigs with the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, and New Orleans Pelicans.
