Alani Nicole Vasquez, or La La Anthony as the world knows this woman, is an American businesswoman, New York Times best-selling author, television personality, actress, and producer.
Joseph Sikora gave her this, a bit unusual nickname, which overshadowed her real name really quick.
We are talking about a beautiful woman with large brown eyes, luxurious hair, slim figure, and full cheeks, but her personality of a girl-next-door buys us all through all these years.
She started her career at the age of 15, and she even had her own show at that age, which means she has been active since 1994.
Even though La La Anthony’s beginning was related to radio, she left the station in 2001, when she started her collaboration with MTV, where she started gaining prominence.
Yet, she dreamed bigger and left the network in order to launch her own company and star with her producing career at Krossover Production.
Alani became engaged to Carmelo Anthony in 2007, whom she married in 2010, and they are up to this date still together, even though the couple had some upside downs.
Early Years
Alani Nicole (June 25, 1979) is originally from Brooklyn, New York, where she was born. but was raised in New Jersey.
Her parents were born and raised in New York as well, but they do pull Puerto Rican heritage. She has two younger sisters (Solana and Aviana) and a younger brother (Christian).
La La Anthony claims herself as an Afro-Puerto Rican.
Alani was involved in many social activities since her childhood, even though the music was her favorite thing to do.
It was The Power star who brought her closer to music.
She went to Redan High School and studied communications at Howard University.
Career Development
La La Anthony’s entertainment career began when she was only 15 years old when she started her internship at WQHT-FN, HOT 97.5 in the city of Georgia.
Interestingly, she lied about her age when she went to the radio for the first time, as she was too young to do a job at that time.
People asked her many questions on the show, and La La’s answers made her favorite among the audience.
After she completed the internship, she got her own show, even though she was in high school back then. Future Flavas, which was the name of the show, became wildly popular. Rapper/actor Ludacris (Chris Bridges) was involved in the show as well.
Los Angeles 92.3 The Beat made an offer to La La Anthony when she was 19 years old. She got a chance to co-host her second radio show, which she accepted.
The B-Syde, which was the name of the show, was immensely popular, just as the Future Flavas, but Anthony wanted to grow even more, and that is why she joined the MTV family in 2001.
La La Anthony had no previous on-TV experience, but her talent was rising day after day. Soon, she established herself as one of the premier talents on MTV, which brought her co-hosting on two of the most popular shows of that time – Total Request Live and Direct Effect.
Some of the most famous shows she hosted are Real Chance, For the Love of Ray J, Power of Love, and many more.
She even appeared on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”.
From 2001 to 2003, when she left MTV, Alani interviewed some of the world’s most famous celebrities in Direct Effect and Total Request Live (two of her most popular shows), such as Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, and many more.
Even though being part of the MTV family was a fruitful run, La La Anthony wanted to start something on her own.
La La Anthony launched Krossover Productions and produced Tyson, Mike Tyson’s acclaimed documentary.
The documentary was directed by James Toback, Golden Globe, and Oscar nominee writer and director, and won the Regard Knockout Award in France.
What is more, the documentary got a standing ovation at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.
La La Anthony collaborated with Brett Ratner, a director, and producer, and the two worked on a feature film The Gun.
A romantic comedy Two Can Play That Game was Alani’s film debut in 2001.
She got a role in Think Like a Man, the 2012 movie, where she starred with Taraji P. Henson and Gabrielle Union.
A year later, Anthony appeared in Baggage Claim with Derek Luke and Paula Patton.
Talking about Anthony’s guest starring roles, we will mention Single Ladies, the popular VH1 show, and NYC 22, the CBS crime drama.
Urban Massacre from 2002, and You Got Served and Monster Island are three more movies in which Anthony appeared as well.
Do you remember the series Law of Order: Special Victim Unit? La La Anthony got the role of Ana in one of their episodes in 2013.
Her stage debut in the off-Broadway production occurred in 2011, and she starred in What I Wore and Love Loss.
La La’s Full Court Wedding is one of the VH1’s highest-rated shows executive produced by her. The show has five seasons and takes you through the whole love story between Anthony and her husband, Carmelo Anthony, right to their wedding.
MOTIVES is Anthony’s cosmetic line inspired by women of different skin colors and consists of mineral-based products only. She created a line of cosmetic products for face, eyes, lips, cheeks, and nails.
La La wanted to launch an affordable line for all ladies over the world, so her products cost majorly between $16 and $40.
Anthony released her clothing line as well, “5th & Mercer”, and she is launching new designs at the moment.
As this woman is unstoppable, she even released her debut book on January 28, 2014. The Love Playbook tells a story about how Anthony managed to reconcile her private and business life.
The book hit top-selling badge on February 7th on The New York Times Best Seller list and Barnes & Noble Best Seller list as well.
She released her second book in May 2015, entitled The Power Playbook.
Maxim Magazine named Alani as one of the 100 hottest women.
Personal Life
La La Anthony got engaged to NBA basketball star, Carmelo Anthony, on Christmas Day in 2004.
Carmelo Kyam Anthony is a Houston Rockets player (NBA) born in Brooklyn on May 29, 1984.
He won 4 golden medals and has established himself as a successful player.
Carmelo sent her a bottle of Moet & Chardon at a New York club, where they met, but Alani wasn’t so excited about that and was even a bit rude to the guy.
Still, he managed to melt her heart, and they started their relationship. The couple announced engagement in 2004.
La La Anthony and Carmelo got son on March 7, 2007, and the boy was named Kiyan Carmelo Anthony.
However, Anthony and Carmelo waited until July 10 in 2010 to get married. Michael Eric Dyson married them in New York before 320 guests in a luxurious restaurant Cipriani’s.
Just as we mentioned above, La La’s Full Court Wedding is one of the VH1’s highest-rated reality series, while La La’s Full Court Life testifies the couple’s life together after the wedding.
La La was invited on “The Wendy Williams Show”, where she talked about her business life and the fact she doesn’t accept to be called a basketball wife only. What is more, she refused to appear on “Basketball Wives”.
This triggered an avalanche of negative comments, but witty La La Anthony justified her nickname once again when she gave a public response about this matter. Yet, this thought her not to be too frankly when being on TV.
However, as both Anthony and Carmelo put the accent on their separate careers, they got a bit distracted.
Alani was filming the show Unforgettable and the movie Think Like a Man, while Carmelo was at the peak of his career.
The stressful environment resulted in separation. Anthony filed for separation in April 2017, as rumors accused Carmelo of cheating her with a woman from a gentleman’s club.
A few months later, Anthony claimed in an interview on The Wendy Williams Show, that they are still not officially divorcing.
La La Anthony said that marriages are not easy to handle at all, but she was learning how to manage things as well as possible.
Further, she was aware that spending 14 years with someone would have to mean the couple had many bumps and bruises until then. She tried to learn a lesson about working on things instead of throwing them away.
The couple reconciled in 2019.
They have a 12-year old son Kiyan Anthony and reported they have no plans about having more kids in the future.
Quick Summary
Full name: Alani Nicole Anthony
Date of birth: June 25, 1979
Birthplace: Brooklyn
Age: 40
Profession: television personality, author, producer, actress, and businesswoman
Height: 1.68
Weight: 74kg
Net worth: $9 million