Charles Oakley’s 2017 arrest following a widely publicized incident at Madison Square Garden took a toll on his and Angela Oakley’s marriage.
During Sunday’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” Angela — a new cast member on Season 16 of the Bravo reality series — revealed the couple separated for a year after getting married in 2016 due to Oakley’s arrest, which stemmed from an altercation with security personnel during a Knicks game.
“I really, really, really want to do that,” Angela said, referring to the idea of renewing their vows. “2017, with Madison Square Garden, that was a very, very rough time. Charles was attending a game in New York. The owner [James Dolan] does not like Charles and called security to come. [They] escorted him out.
“We were newly married. He needed to heal, and I couldn’t heal him during this time. I was just like, ‘You know what? We’re going to try to work through this at a distance.’ And we did live separately. So us just recommitting to one another, I feel like is important at this moment, because everything that happened since we got married, it affected us.”
Oakley, a former forward who spent 10 of his 19 NBA seasons with the Knicks, said “we’ll see” about the couple renewing their vows.
“Charles is holding our vow renewal over my head because he feels like we spent all this money on these houses,” Angela said of her real estate business. “[He thinks], ‘Let’s handle this first, and then we can jump into something else.’”
Angela went on to mention their couples counselor on Sunday’s episode and Charles rolled his eyes.
“$3,000 a month, you should love them,” he quipped.
In February 2017, Oakley was escorted off the floor at MSG and handcuffed following an altercation with security. He was arrested on three counts of assault and one count of criminal trespass.
The charges were dismissed after Oakley agreed to a plea deal in August 2017, which included a one-year ban from MSG.
On Sunday, Angela appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” in New York to promote “RHOA” and Oakley was in the audience.
Andy Cohen, an executive producer of the “Real Housewives” franchises, described the incident as a “wild story” and asked Oakley if he was still banned from MSG.
“I’m not banned-banned, but [I] haven’t been there [since],” Charles said.
“Maybe you’ll come with me to a Knicks game some time and see what happens. That would be fun,” Cohen added.
“Maybe so, yeah, let’s do it maybe — maybe they’ll ban both of us then,” Oakley said, laughing.
Footage from the 2017 incident showed the former NBA All-Star in a confrontation with MSG event manager Tom Redmond, who he told to “get the f–k out of my face,” according to The Athletic in an April 2021 story titled “Free Charles Oakley.”
Oakley allegedly “poked Redmond in the side of the face, then shoved another official twice,” the outlet reported.
In a statement on the night of the incident, the Knicks claimed Oakley had “behaved in a highly inappropriate and completely abusive manner” and said, “We hope he gets some help soon.”
Oakley, who played for the Knicks from 1988-89 through 1997-98, has been critical of Dolan during his tenure as the team’s owner.
Dolan discussed the incident in an interview with The New York Times that was published in September 2023.
“I wish I could change Charles Oakley,” Dolan said at the time without further elaborating.
Oakley also spoke with The New York Times and was in disbelief over Dolan’s comment.
“That’s embarrassing for him to say that. He is the one who should handle himself better,” Charles said.
The former NBA star also had stints with the Bulls, Raptors, Wizards and Rockets.
