Meet Brianna Hammonds: Philanthropist and Wife of Los Angeles Dodgers Star Mookie Betts

Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts has the most heartwarming love story with wife Brianna Hammonds. The MLB WAG will no doubt be rooting for her husband as his team competes in the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Brianna describes herself as a “Wife, Mom, Philanthropist” on her Instagram page bio. She cofounded the 50/50 Foundation with her husband in 2021, “with the goal of providing youth in their community with the support needed for success both on and off the field — specifically with resources in the realms of physical activity, nutrition, mental health, and financial literacy,” according to their website.

Through the foundation, the couple has supported AAU basketball teams in the Nashville, Tennessee, metropolitan area, provided the Los Angeles United School District with baseball and softball equipment for their student athletes and the foundation holds an annual Thanksgiving turkey drive for those in need.

The pair met while they were middle schoolers in Nashville, when Mookie — full name Markus Lynn Betts — was in eighth grade and Brianna was a seventh grader.

“One of my best friends who passed away thought [Mookie] was cute, and I said, ‘Girl go talk to him!’” Brianna explained to Ebony in December 2021. “She was too scared to talk to him, so I told him, ‘My girlfriend likes you. Will you talk to her?’ … And he kept saying no.”

While Mookie wasn’t interested in Brianna’s friend, he was attracted to the cheerleader.

“I thought Brianna was cute but … I was into my video games and sports,” he told the publication.

“When I finally asked her out, she said she didn’t hear me, but she heard me … So, the next day I end up asking her again. I’m thinking, You get one shot. I only have but so much courage, I’m pacing in my room and thinking, I ain’t asking again. I don’t know what [made] me ask again. She said yes and my MySpace status changed,” Mookie revealed.

The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Kynlee Ivory Betts, on November 6, 2018. “Never knew what unconditional love meant or how it felt until I met this little princess,” Mookie wrote in an Instagram post on the day of her birth, adding that the date “is a day I’ll never forget.”

Brianna gave birth to their second child, son Kaj Lynn Betts, on April 18, 2023. “April 18! GOD blessed us with our beautiful baby boy!” the couple wrote in a joint Instagram post.

Considering how long they’d been together and already had one child, Mookie pulled out all the stops when he finally proposed to Brianna in January 2021.

The six-time All-Star staged a dinner around an actual honor he received from baseball icon CC Sabathia‘s charitable foundation, where the couple were joined by 40 loved ones.

When Mookie went on stage to give his speech, he called on Brianna to join him. The slugger read a poem and got down on one knee and proposed to his future bride with a seven-carat diamond ring.

“Brianna has been by my side since we were teenagers,” Mookie told People at the time. “Together we’ve grown mentally, physically and spiritually. She is my best friend, mother of my child, my lover and my soon-to-be wife.”

Crosswords

The couple tied the knot on December 1, 2021, at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Mookie and Brianna said their “I do’s” in front of 200 guests. Daughter Kynlee served as the flower girl.