Facing the music.
Tristan Thompson took to Instagram on Friday, Jan. 21 with a message that may provide some insight into how he's feeling after his recent paternity scandal.
"Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you face your greatest weakness," the 30-year-old NBA player wrote in an Instagram Story today. "Hide from your demons and they'll slowly destroy your potential. Face them and they can potentially become your greatest asset."
The Story is admittedly cryptic, but considering Tristan's been relatively inactive on social media since he confirmed he fathered a third child with a woman other than Khloe Kardashian, one can assume he's still reeling from the drama.
Tristan made the revelation on Jan. 3, publicly acknowledging that a paternity test had determined that he fathered a baby boy with Maralee Nichols, a woman who is suing him for pregnancy and child-related expenses.
With the confirmation came a public apology to Khloe, who he shares 3-year-old daughter True Thompson with.
"Khloe, you don't deserve this," Tristan wrote in his Jan. 3 Instagram Story. "You don't deserve the heartache and humiliation I have caused you. You don't deserve the way I have treated you over the years. My actions certainly have not lined up with the way I view you. I have the utmost respect and love for you. Regardless of what you may think. Again, I am so incredibly sorry."
Timeline-wise, court docs show that Tristan previously stated that he and Maralee had sex on his birthday in March 2021 during a "hook up," as he put it. Khloe and Tristan broke up last spring after reconciling in fall 2020.
As for Maralee, she told E! News in December, "I would never have gotten involved with Tristan if I thought he was in a relationship."
"Instead of focusing on any negativity, I am choosing to embrace being a mother and doing the best I can for my son," she added in the statement. "I do not want any further media attention, nor do I want a romantic relationship with Tristan. My goal is to raise our son in a safe, healthy, loving and private environment."