- ‘Family values’ Senate candidate and former MLB All-Star Steve Garvey is facing some backlash on his messaging from his own kids
- But as he battles to become California’s next Senator, three of his seven children have come forward with claims of abandonment
A former MLB star turned aspiring GOP senator who claims he’s a family values lawmaker has been accused of ignoring three of the seven children he had by four different women.
Steve Garvey, 75, launched a bid last year for the California Senate seat formerly held by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.
The former LA Dodgers and Padres standout player is campaigning as a conservative moderate who hopes to bring ‘moral integrity’ and ‘personal responsibility’ back to Congress.
One small problem is that at least three of his seven children say those are qualities their father does not possess, as demonstrated by abandonment and/or years of abdicating his parental duties.
Garvey shot to fame in the late 80s when it emerged he’d gotten two different women pregnant at the same time – before marrying a third. He’d spent much of the decade portraying himself as squeaky clean – and proud of it.
The fiasco inspired a bumper sticker saying ‘Steve Harvey is not my padre’ and even a joke on iconic sitcom The Golden Girls.
Former Dodger Steve Garvey stands with his wife Candace and some of his children in a ceremony honoring him before a MLB game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 1, 2019
![Steve Garvey #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers poses for a portrait. Garvey played for the Dodgers from 1969-1982](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761383-13036229-image-m-72_1706849741024.jpg)
Steve Garvey #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers poses for a portrait. Garvey played for the Dodgers from 1969-1982
Though once adored by the public for his squeaky-clean reputation (in addition to his skill with a bat), two years post MLB retirement in 1989, Garvey got two women pregnant simultaneously and proceeded to marry his current wife – who was not one of the two who were with child.
He said that both pregnant women, one who he was engaged to for a moment, lied to him about being on birth control.
That spring, on an episode of ‘The Golden Girls,’ elderly grandma Sophia Petrillo, played by Estelle Getty, delivered the line: ‘I just hope I’m not carrying Steve Garvey’s baby’, sparking audience hysteria.
Garvey committed, however, to ‘accept the moral and financial responsibility’ of the illegitimate children, because ‘there is a right way and wrong way to deal with moral situations, and I believe this is the right thing to do.’
After court-ordered paternity test proved Garvey was the father, he was ordered to pay child support.
At the time, he was also going through a messy divorce from his first wife, with whom he had two children. With his current wife of 34 years, Candace, Garvey had another three children.
But in a recent statement to the LA Times, the two love children – both 34 years old – said they have, at no point, had any sort of tangible relationship with their father.
Slade Mendehall and Ashleigh Young wrote: ‘In our childhoods, multiple efforts were made through attorneys to arrange a meeting or even a phone call with Mr. Garvey, but he declined every opportunity.’
‘Thus, we have never known him, and our only relationships with him were through the family court system.’
Mendenhall, an attorney in Georgia, and Young, a homemaker stationed in Japan with her Naval officer husband say they have ongoing close relationships with some of their half-siblings.
![Baseball legend Steve Garvey talked about how the homeless want to work after touring a homeless encampment in Sacramento on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Garvey is a Republican running for U.S. Senate and said he wants accountability on how the money is being spent to help the homeless](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761405-13036229-image-a-65_1706849060047.jpg)
Baseball legend Steve Garvey talked about how the homeless want to work after touring a homeless encampment in Sacramento on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Garvey is a Republican running for U.S. Senate and said he wants accountability on how the money is being spent to help the homeless
![Steve Garvey with his first wife Cynthia Garvey - Krishna's mother](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761375-13036229-image-a-61_1706849031006.jpg)
Steve Garvey with his first wife Cynthia Garvey – Krishna’s mother
![Slade Mendenhall (34)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761001-13036229-image-m-70_1706849117024.jpg)
![Krishna Garvey (49)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761607-13036229-image-m-68_1706849093578.jpg)
Mendenhall and Garvey both have stories about their father, Steve Harvey’s abandonment of them
![The year Garvey impregnated two women - neither his wife - Golden Girls character Sophia Petrillo (portrayed by Estelle Getty, furthest left) joked: 'I just hope I’m not carrying Steve Garvey’s baby'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80762295-13036229-image-a-71_1706849316633.jpg)
The year Garvey impregnated two women – neither his wife – Golden Girls character Sophia Petrillo (portrayed by Estelle Getty, furthest left) joked: ‘I just hope I’m not carrying Steve Garvey’s baby’
![First Baseman Steve Garvey #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers chases after a pop-up against the San Francisco Giants during an Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/04/80761395-13036229-image-m-67_1706849082783.jpg)
First Baseman Steve Garvey #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers chases after a pop-up against the San Francisco Giants during an Major League Baseball game circa 1978 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco
One such half-sibling is Garvey’s eldest daughter, Krishna, 49.
She told the Times that despite not being particularly political, she felt the voters should know that the reality of her father does not match the model he’s selling on the campaign trail.
Garvey was married to Krishna’s mother – Cynthia Garvey – from 1971 to 1983.
She told the outlet that for reasons unbeknownst to her, Garvey essentially ceased contact with her 15 years ago.
One day, she says he told her over the phone: ‘this is how it’s got to be, Krish,’ and ended the relationship.
She condemns her father further for not attempting to have a relationship with her three sons, his grandchildren.
‘He has not been accountable, not to his family,’ she said.
According to the Times, Krishna ‘teared up’ when she was told that for $149 a pop, her father sells personalized messages on the popular short-form celebrity video app Cameo.
She called it ‘upside down wrong,’ that he makes those videos for strangers, but doesn’t acknowledge the existence of his eldest daughter.
![Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey waves to fans prior to a baseball game between the Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, July 25, 2021](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/05/80761403-13036229-image-a-73_1706850587872.jpg)
Former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey waves to fans prior to a baseball game between the Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies, Sunday, July 25, 2021
![Los Angeles Dodgers' first baseman Steve Garvey #6 sits in the dugout during the World Series against the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium in October of 1978](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/02/02/05/80761373-13036229-image-m-75_1706850681760.jpg)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ first baseman Steve Garvey #6 sits in the dugout during the World Series against the New York Yankees at Dodger Stadium in October of 1978
As Garvey makes some headway in the California polls – some show him polling just behind frontrunner Rep. Adam Schiff, others show him in fourth place – his daughter says he may have the exterior of a trustworthy politician, but deep down, he doesn’t have the substance of one.
‘I think my dad is very simplistic. He can tell you a good stupid dad joke and keep it very superficial and very light,’ she said.
‘He can talk around a thing really well, and he can sell a thing. What’s underneath all that though? It’s questionable.’