Russell Wilson Has an Ingenious Way of Staying Connected With His Kids While He’s Traveling for Seahawks Games
A star quarterback in the NFL makes tens of millions of dollars annually now, which allows him and his family to have generational wealth. With that money comes high levels of fame and popularity, in addition to a championship ring if he can manage to win a Super Bowl.
It seems like the dream job for many people, but there are sacrifices that must be made for professional athletes. One of the biggest drawbacks is all the travel, which can pull you away from your family for days at a time all season long. But, as Russell Wilson proves, even when you’re traveling you can still stay connected with your family.
What Russell Wilson has accomplished in the NFL
Wilson wasn’t a highly-touted prospect coming out of college, and the Seahawks took him in the third round (No. 75 overall) of the 2012 NFL draft, which has made him of the biggest draft bargains in recent memory. In his nine seasons under center for the Seahawks, he has not missed a game and led the team to a 98-45-1 record.
He has completed just over 65.1% of his passes 33,946 yards and 267 touchdowns, with 81 interceptions; he also has 21 rushing touchdowns on 4,506 rushing yards. Wilson is a seven-time Pro Bowler who led the Seahawks to victory in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Russell Wilson’s family life with Ciara
GQ discussed Wilson’s family life in a profile of him and his wife, singer Ciara. The celebrity couple have two children together — daughter Sienna Princess Wilson was born in 2017 and son Win Harrison Wilson came into the world in July 2020.
Wilson also has a role as a stepfather to Future Zahir, Ciara’s first child; he was born in May 2014 to Ciara and her then-fiance, rapper Future. Wilson first met the younger Future when he was just 9 months old, and Wilson saw it as an opportunity for which he was ready.
Wilson tells GQ “the reality was that for me it was a blessing and an opportunity to really hopefully be there for him every day and try to care for him in a way that was important for me, that I always wanted someone to do for me. Like my dad did for me.”
Ciara’s ex publicly showed his frustration at Wilson helping raise the boy, but Wilson says it’s “easy to love” the youngster as if he was Wilson’s own. He says being able to love Ciara “and take care of her and our kids is the greatest gift I have. So I cherish that every day.”
Staying connected with his kids from the road
As an NFL player and a singer, Russell Wilson and Ciara are both on the road a lot. Ciara’s schedule can be unpredictable if she gets called for a last-minute gig, but Wilson’s schedule is predictable, as it is announced months before the NFL season starts and rarely sees major changes after that.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for him to be on the road and away from his kids as much as he is. Being in the extreme northwest corner of the United States with the Seahawks, Wilson travels more than most other players in the league.
Prior to last season, CBS Sports estimated that the Seahawks would travel just under 29,000 miles for their eight road games — more than 6,000 miles more than the Chargers, who had the second most travel.
Even with logging all those frequent flyer miles, Wilson manages to stay connected with the little ones. While on the road, he sets alerts on his phone to remind himself to send the kids video messages.
That became even more important last year, he says, because of the racial injustice Black people experience. He admits he thinks about his “three beautiful brown-skinned kids” possibly getting caught up in that in the future.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
