Tony Parker, full name William Anthony Parker was born in Bruges, Belgium. His father was also a basketball player and moved the family often. Parker grew up in such places as Gravelines, Denain, Fécamp and Rouen, all in France.
Parker appears to be a Catholic. Not only because he is French, but also because his wedding to American TV star, Eva Longoria was celebrated in full Catholic style in Paris' Eglise Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois,[1] a 7th Century Catholic cathedral.
Other than that, Parker is a blank page–no mentions of God or church on his Twitter feed, no crediting God to his wins and/or losses during post-game interviews. He's probably a cultural, non-practicing Catholic. Of course, I could be wrong, at which point you commenters will tell me. So let's move on to:
Equally vague politics section!
Parker is French, by choice apparently.[2] I would think that between his marriage to an American and the fact that he's lived in the U.S. for quite a while now, he'd be able to become a U.S. citizen. But he doesn't appear to have done that. He said about his country:
It's a beautiful country, a country of love…[3]
That being the case, his only political position I can find is that, in France, he supported Barack Obama's bid for president in 2008. This is referred to on his French Wikipedia page, with a citation to an unlinked magazine article.
Plus, this video is entitled, in French: "Tony Parker supports Obama." It's an interview with half a dozen French journalists and I'm assuming Parker explains why he supports Obama. From the little French I know, I was able to pick out a mention of his then-wife Eva Longoria, who also was an Obama supporter and that there are many problems in the United States, particularly with the economy. I imagine Parker saw Obama as the man to fix them.
If any of you out there are better in French and want to give a translation, please do.
Lastly, Parker said something–a bit strange–but might indicate a more socially liberal worldview:
Well, actually, I'm a bisexual lesbian in a man's body… but it's more complicated than that.[4]
Seems kind of complicated actually.
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