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Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns has had to deal with numerous devastating losses over the course of two years due to COVID-19. On April 13, 2020, his mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns passed away from the novel virus. He had several close family members pass from COVID-19 as well. And, in the beginning of 2021, Karl also contracted the virus and ended up in the hospital.


However, through all the grief, his girlfriend, model Jordyn Woods, stood by his side. The professional ball player spoke with Taraji P. Henson on her Facebook Watch show Peace of Mind with Taraji about struggling with the death of eight family members to COVID-19 and how Jordyn was there for him.

Karl recalled the moment he went to the hospital after realizing his mother may die due to a blood clot, which is a known symptom of COVID-19.

"I flew in, I put the hazmat suit on and everything, and I went in there, because I was like, 'If anyone's going to see her out, I'm going to see her out.' I knew it was going to be the last time, so I was kind of working that out."

He continued:

"That day changed me as a man. I'm never going to get that innocent young boy back. That's gone. ... Ever since that day, I feel like the world just made me a little colder. It took what was most valuable to me, so I don't have that kind of feeling for it."

While the death of his mom had a huge impact on him, there is another woman he acknowledged that meant a lot to him and that woman is Jordyn.

"A woman that meant so much to me in my life left my life to be replaced by another woman to take that spot," he said.

He went on to discuss how the 24-year-old was there for him during that tragic time in his life.

"It's crazy because we were best friends. I feel, like, in a way, when my mom passed, she said, 'I'm not going to leave you alone. I'ma make sure you know who you're supposed to be with.' ... I leaned on her because she's one of the only people who actually know how I was feeling and what I was going through because she was super close with her father just like I was super close with my mother."

Jordyn lost her father, John Woods, to cancer in January 2017.

Karl and Jordyn have been exclusive for a little over a year and have supported each other through hard times.

In February 2021, the 25-year-old surprised Jordyn on her dad's birthday with flowers, gifts and a poem about fatherhood. She captioned the post, "today my dad would've been 61♥️ thank you for thinking of me always in the sweetest ways @karltowns ! Happy Birthday Daddy 👼🏽."

Featured image by Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Coin Cloud

 

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