Matt Barnes and Anansa Sims on Showcasing Reconciliation and Blended Family in New Reality Series (Exclusive)

Matt Barnes and Anansa Sims are putting their love on display. The longtime couple have had a challenging road in the love department. Both have been previously married and divorced. Barnes’ highly contentious divorce from Basketball Wives star Gloria Govan and the scandal of her later marrying his former teammate, Derek Fisher, has played out online. Sims was previously married to David Patterson.

While some of Barnes’ previous relationship woes played out on the VH1 reality series, Sims’ close and sometimes complex relationship with her mother, supermodel Beverly Johnson, and her life with her then-husband was chronicled in a series on OWN, Beverly’s Full House. Barnes and Sims have a blended family of six, with Barnes having twins from his previous marriage, Sims having three children from her previous marriage, and the pair having one son together. But they say their blended family is what keeps them thriving. It wasn’t always that way.

Fans will remember the retired NBA player and model split in 2020, and it was nasty. Allegations of abuse and cheating were slung, and child custody came into the fold, but they ultimately made their way back to one another. Unfortunately, some may never forget what played out online. But they say perception isn’t reality, and they aren’t afraid to showcase their actual reality on the We tv series, The Barnes Bunch. 

As for why they decided to give reality television a shot together at this stage in their relationship, Sims told PopCulture in an interview: “I just thought it would be cool to share how we’ve been working through couples therapy, how much we’ve both grown from where our relationship was to where it is now and how we got there,” she said. “I get a lot of DMs from women like, ‘I want to give my ex or my baby daddy or whoever a second chance, but I don’t know if I should.’ And relationship stuff is very relatable. It’s hard to figure out. Love is great. And then it can hurt sometimes. So I think just sharing our journey.”

They have intense couples therapy, forcing Barnes, who admits he isn’t the best communicator, to open up for the betterment of their relationship and family as they plan their nuptials. He’s publicly gushed about Sims being the most supportive partner he’s ever had, despite their hiccups. 

Sims admitted in a confessional in Episode 1 that she was blindsided by their split in 2020. It’s the main reason why couples therapy this time around is non-negotiable. Barnes revealed in episode one during one therapy session that he grew cold feet after their son was born and he found himself struggling trying to balance life as a retired player.

As for why he wasn’t communicative previously, he told us, “Being hard-headed. Kind of tapping back into therapy and then individual therapy and just understanding my upbringing and understanding how childhood trauma has played a role in the man I am today and the way I view things and the way I either communicate or don’t communicate. So really just learning to communicate better,” he said. “I came from a childhood of drugs, abuse, and violence, and my safety mechanism is to shut down and just be quiet and hope it goes away. But as I’ve gotten older, I realized that issues between couples don’t go away. If you go silent, they only get worse…This is a team.”

The Barnes Bunch airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on We tv. Watch the full video interview with Matt Barnes and Anansa Sims on our YouTube channel.