Flau'jae Johnson led the LSU Tigers to an 83-77 win over Vanderbilt on Monday, then immediately switched to family mode. Johnson celebrated her mother, Kia Brooks's birthday with her boyfriend, Chris Hilton Jr. and other family members at a restaurant.
A touched Brooks shared the moment on her Instagram story on Tuesday and wrote:
"After the game last night, my girl (Flau'jae Johnson) wanted to make sure she celebrated me."
Along with a video of the people present for her celebration, Kia Brooks also shared clips of her with the birthday cake and more.
Flau'jae Johnson has always been vocal about her mother's crucial role in her growth as a basketball player, a musician and a businesswoman. The guard is ranked No. 1 in NIL with a valuation of $1.5 million (per On3) and she has credited it all to Mama Brooks.
Johnson won the Innovator of the Year award at the INFLCR NIL Summit in June 2023. During her acceptance speech, the guard said:
“I want to thank my mom cause she’s really got me this far, being a mom, being my manager, negotiating all my NIL deals, from my shoe deals to my local deals in Baton Rouge, so I want to thank her.
"I just want to say, man, I’m blessed, honestly. Just being in a position to be able to profit off my music and my name, image and likeness being a basketball player and a rapper.”
Flau'jae Johnson once spoke about her immense trust in Kia Brooks
Parent-child relationships can sometimes deteriorate when they become manager-talent. However, Flau'jae Johnson's personal and business relationship with her mother stands out as a unique case.
When talking about this during an interview with Essense in 2023, Johnson said:
“Me and my mom built a lot of trust, and so she really make a lot of decisions on my behalf because we built up that trust, and she knows what I want to do, she knows what I’m not going to do.
"And so just having that trusting relationship, knowing she got my best interest and knowing that we both have the same goal in mind make working together much easier.”
After helping extend LSU's unbeaten run to 19-0 to mark her mom's birthday on Monday, Johnson and the Tigers will next face Florida on Sunday.
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