Jerry Buss put together what was then thought to be a wild business deal to purchase the Lakers and related assets for $67.5 million in 1979.
Buss had a degree in chemistry, but his money came from real estate holdings and loans that moved between third parties to help him obtain the Lakers, Kings and the Forum from Jack Kent Cooke, who was going through a costly divorce.
Buss’ vision was to infuse Hollywood glamour into an NBA team few in Los Angeles seemed to care about, win championships and share that glory with his family.
Buss realized his Hollywood dream in more ways than he ever could have imagined, with his death in 2013 from complications from cancer touching off battles among his six children over control of the Lakers.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss, center, with children Janie, from left, Jeanie, Johnny and Jim in 1979.
(Gunther/mptvimages.com)
At least two siblings have tried to oust another from a leadership role. One sibling reportedly said two others never should have been born. And one sibling managed to fire the five others from jobs with the team.
The rifts mirror the HBO hit show “Succession.” Buss’ tenure and the family drama has been direct inspiration for two television shows and was chronicled in a docuseries the Lakers produced.
The latest daggers were delivered this week, with attorneys representing Buss’ daughter, Jeanie, admonishing her five siblings — Janie, Johnny, Jim, Joey and Jesse — for announcing the Buss Family Trust was selling its 17.8% ownership of the Lakers to new buyers Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner.
The sale would yield billions for the trust, with Iger and Kushner set to purchase the franchise at a $12.5-billion evaluation for the majority ownership stake of the team and a tagalong provision extending that price to the minority shareholders.
The Buss children are already billionaires following the sale of their majority stake to previous owner Mark Walter in 2025, but in addition to a big jump in share value, the minority stake sale would remove Jeanie from her coveted role as governor.
Neither side is giving up ground, suggesting lawsuits will soon be filed to resolve the family ownership dispute.
How did we get here?
The roots of the infighting date to the early days of Jerry Buss’ team ownership.
Buss focuses on building a family business
For the first 12 seasons Buss owned the team, the Lakers won NBA championships in 1980 and 1982 against the Philadelphia 76ers, 1985 and 1987 against the hated Boston Celtics, and 1988 against the Detroit Pistons.
Former player and shrewd executive Jerry West helped build the Lakers’ rosters, Pat Riley blossomed into an elite coach, and stars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led a collection of elite playmakers during the Showtime era.
Jerry Buss, right, talks with his children Johnny, Jim, Jeanie and Janie in 1979.
(Gunther / mptvimages.com)
The Buss family came along for the ride, with each child working on some aspect of the family business. Jeanie notably helped organize events at the Forum and was eager to take on more challenges while honoring her father’s ambition. Her father put her in charge of the team’s indoor tennis franchise when she was only 19.
As Jerry aged and new stars emerged, including Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and coach Phil Jackson, it was clear the next ownership chapter for the Lakers would be messy.
For one thing, Jerry had trouble letting go of what he built.
“I just can’t visualize myself walking away, relinquishing control,” Jerry told The Times in 2002. “My relationship with this team is a lifelong marriage.”
A clear successor emerges
By the time they reached their 40s, Jeanie took on a greater role on the business side, while Jim became a basketball executive.
Joey and Jesse, the youngest Buss children, learned about scouting and business operations.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss poses with the NBA championship trophy in 1980.
(NBAE / Getty Images)
Jerry’s health challenges could not be denied and at age 69, he scaled back his involvement.
In 2002, Jeanie emerged as Jerry’s clear successor. At the time, her siblings did not seem interested in the role.
Her biggest challenges seemed to be getting the rest of the NBA to take her seriously after previously partying with her father’s girlfriends and posing nude for Playboy magazine. She told The Times she wished the media hadn’t focused as much on her past and stood by her work moving forward.
Soon after the Lakers hired Jackson in 1999, he asked Jeanie on a date. Their ensuing relationship added challenges to business operations, but The Times reported Jerry didn’t oppose it.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss and his daughter, Jeanie, pose for a photo at the Staples Center.
(Michael Kelley / For the Times)
Jeanie joined her father at NBA board of governors meetings for three years before being the Lakers’ sole representative at the gatherings that featured no other women. She handled an array of business challenges, big and small, and helped supervise the team’s move from the Forum to the Staples Center.
In 2002, all her siblings seemed content with Jeanie emerging as the face of the Lakers’ front office. They either were driven to make a name for themselves in other lines of business or had clearly carved out roles within the Lakers organization.
“My dad likes a system of checks and balances,” Jim told The Times. “Jeanie has more of the administrative part. We all have a good relationship. There’s no jealousy or envy. It’s very smooth.”
Buss family hits troubled waters
The smooth sailing didn’t last forever.
Jeanie helped her father navigate a series of difficult decisions. The Lakers agreed with Jackson to mutually part in 2004 amid a feud between Bryant and O’Neal, the first sign Jeanie was willing to part with someone she loved for the sake of the business. Jackson returned to coach the team in 2005 and held the role until his retirement in 2011, guiding the team to five titles.
In 2013, Jerry died and Bryant ruptured his left Achilles tendon. The Buss children reportedly decided against selling the team immediately after their father’s death, with Jeanie a clear vote against the move.
In 2014, coach Mike D’Antoni’s Lakers won 27 games. In 2015, the team won 21. In 2016, the team hit rock bottom with just 17 wins. Jeanie and Jackson broke up in 2016, ending their four-year engagement. She has since married comedian Jay Mohr.
Lakers star Kobe Bryant and Lakers governor Jeanie Buss stand beside each other on the basketball court.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In 2017, the Lakers were headed to another losing season when Jeanie fired Jim, the president of basketball operations, and Mitch Kupchak, the team’s general manager. They were replaced by Rob Pelinka, Bryant’s former agent, and Johnson, the former Showtime star turned businessman.
Shortly after the firing, Jim and his brother, Johnny, tried to remove Jeanie from the team’s board of directors, sparking a legal feud that included Jeanie filing a restraining order while she wrestled control of the team.
“It wasn’t like we were trying to get rid of Jeanie as president of the Lakers,” Johnny said during a docuseries the team produced. “We wanted Jeanie to understand that Dad would not have wanted you to just take total control, hire and fire whoever you wanted, without the rest of us being involved.”
Jeanie countered her father created a trust that put her in control.
“They tried to disregard what their father wanted,” Jeanie said in the docuseries. “That’s a betrayal of all the hard work and what he did on our behalf to make this possible. I felt that there was this desire to remove me or stab me in the heart.”
A court ultimately delivered a ruling that Jeanie is still clinging to today as she hopes to retain the family’s minority ownership of the Lakers and her role as governor.
“The co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain controlling owner,” a letter written this week by Jeanie’s attorney reads, citing a 2017 court ruling outlining her role. “Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”
The ruling stipulated that co-trustees “would take all actions reasonably available to them, including voting the trust’s shares to ensure that [Jeanie] is elected as the controlling owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during [her] lifetime.”
A title masks more drama
Soon after the ruling, Jeanie included younger brothers Joey and Jesse in the search for a coach to replace Luke Walton. Her siblings continued to hold roles within the team.
With Jeanie’s power firmly defined by the court, the Lakers signed LeBron James in 2018, traded for Anthony Davis in 2019 and won a title during a season shortened by COVID in 2020. It is the sole championship the team has won since Jerry’s death.
LeBron James hugs Lakers governor Jeanie Buss after winning the 2020 NBA championship.
(Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
The run to the latest title was far from smooth.
ESPN reported that when Jesse called Jeanie to ask a question about a remark Pelinka made during Davis’ introductory news conference in 2019, she told a story of a promise made between her father and mother that Jerry would never have any other children. Jeanie’s mother reportedly was heartbroken when Jerry and his then girlfriend had Joey and Jesse.
The siblings still somehow continued to work in various aspects of the Lakers’ operation.
Jeanie reportedly took intense criticism of the team during the last five years personally and Joey and Jesse wondered whether she might be open to selling the franchise. At the same time, value of NBA teams soared as more billionaires moved into the space. A sale would shift the siblings from millionaires who struggled to invest in growing the Lakers’ operations into billionaires.
A climate opposed to a sale
Jerry created a trust he hoped would prevent his children from feeling pressure to sell the team.
ESPN reported he prepaid inheritance taxes to prevent his children from having to do so upon his death and added provisions to the trust allowing siblings to buy each other out and forcing shares to be redistributed among the siblings when one died rather than passing them on to the next generation of their respective families.
Joey and Jesse began exploring small shares of the team and tried to get other family members on board, ESPN reported. They had not completed their work before Jeanie announced Walter’s offer. Four of the six siblings approved selling 50% of their shares to Walter for a figure that reportedly stunned all of them. Joey and Jesse learned the sale had been approved via a post on X by ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Janie told ESPN the Buss siblings were assured their roles with the team would not change for five years.
Walter’s purchase of the majority stake of the Lakers was approved by four of the six siblings in June 2025, with Jeanie endorsing the deal. She was assured she’d represent the Lakers on the NBA board of governors for at least the next five years.
On Nov. 20, three weeks after the NBA approved the sale to Walter, Jeanie fired Joey, Jesse, Jim, Johnny and Janie, who all worked for the team in various roles.
“I don’t think my dad would be happy with the way things just went down,” Janie told ESPN. “Not at all.”
While she disagreed with the way Jeanie handled the firings, her sister said in an interview with ESPN she didn’t think she meant to hurt her family.
“Jeanie doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, and so she just has to make these tough decisions,” Janie told the network. “And she’s been having to make them … I just wish she would’ve done it differently.”
Firing the last Buss family member
Last week, the family drama flared up again.
When Walter, who is facing multiple investigations into his business practices, reached a deal to sell his majority stake to Iger and Kushner, the family resumed conversations about completely cashing out of the Lakers.
Iger pledged to honor Walter’s agreement with Jeanie to remain as governor for at least five years and spoke highly of the Buss family in multiple interviews and statements released after the deal was announced.
Six days later, five of the siblings voted to approve the sale of their minority stake to Iger and Kushner, effectively firing Jeanie as governor.
Rob Pelinka, from left, Luka Doncic and Jeanie Buss pose for a photo in Katowice, Poland, on Aug. 27.
(Marcin Golba / Associated Press)
“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the family’s statement to ESPN read. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”
Jeanie’s attorney has contested the sale, citing the 2017 court ruling. The attorney’s letter calls out two of Jeanie’s siblings for sending false information to ESPN: “This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’ to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”
Charania said he stands by his reporting.
The Buss Family Trust issued the following statement to The Times defending the five siblings’ right to sell the team:
“The Los Angeles Lakers have never been just a basketball team. They have been one of the greatest privileges of our lives. Our focus has always been on what we believe is best for the Lakers, the fans who have supported this franchise for generations and the greater Los Angeles community.
“Johnny, Jimmy, Janie, Joey and Jesse have made the decision to sell the family’s remaining stake, and we remain united in that decision. We intend to move forward thoughtfully, respectfully and through the appropriate process.
“We have tremendous respect for Bob Iger and Josh Kushner and believe they understand what the Lakers represent to Los Angeles and our incredibly loyal fan base. We are confident they will honor everything this franchise stands for while building upon the foundation our father created.”
It appears the Buss family will soon be headed back to court to decide their future as Lakers owners.
In a legal complaint filed Aug. 7 with Los Angeles County Superior Court, the children of Carradine allege that the psychiatric care team at the UCLA health facility was reckless in its care and committed elder abuse and neglect.
Carradine, 71, had checked into the facility shortly before his death.
The 27-page suit names the UC regents as defendants, along with physicians, nurses, clinical care partners and other officials who are identified as “Does 1-100.” Plaintiffs in the suit include Carradine’s estate and his surviving children.
“He asked for help. He recognized that he was a danger to himself and voluntarily walked into a psychiatric hospital to be kept safe,” the family claimed in the suit reviewed by The Times. “He knew he was not safe to be left alone.”
Suicide prevention and crisis counseling resources
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional or call 988. The nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Or text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.
Carradine had bipolar disorder, and the lawsuit says that he had admitted that he had “suicidal thoughts” when he checked into UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Westwood.
“Instead of walking into a safe environment, [Carradine] walked into a locked facility that broke a cardinal rule for a hospitalized psychiatric patient with active suicidal thoughts and a history of suicide attempts,” the lawsuit says. “UCLA let him walk into a locked psychiatric unit with a belt.”
The family also said hospital staff left him in a room with a table that had not been removed from his unit before being placed there, according to the lawsuit. He died about 19 hours after checking into the facility, the lawsuit says.
“None of this happened because UCLA lacked the knowledge, the policies or the means,” the civil complaint says. “It happened because UCLA took shortcuts with two safeguards that were meant to protect Robert’s life. UCLA gave Robert the means to hurt himself and then no one watched over him or checked on him for long periods of time despite orders to watch him every 15 minutes.”
The lawsuit says that UCLA staff was distracted during Carradine’s observation intake and that they falsified their records to reflect proper care.
The Times has reached out to the UC regents and UCLA Health for comment.
The youngest son of prolific character actor John Carradine, Robert Carradine was born on March 24, 1954, in Los Angeles. Known for both his film and television work, Carradine made his debut in a 1971 episode of the long-running western “Bonanza.” His first film appearance was in the 1972 John Wayne western “The Cowboys.”
During his 50-year Hollywood career, he appeared alongside his brother David in a 1972 episode of “Kung Fu” and the 1973 Martin Scorsese film “Mean Streets.” Alongside his brothers David and Keith, Robert joined other sets of acting siblings to portray sets of real-life siblings in the 1980 western “The Long Riders.” Carradine also landed roles in Hal Ashby’s 1978 Vietnam War drama “Coming Home” and Samuel Fuller’s 1980 World War II epic “The Big Red One.”
“It is with profound sadness that we must share that our beloved father, grandfather, uncle, and brother Robert Carradine has passed away,” the Carradine family said in a statement following the actor’s death. “In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon [of] light to everyone around him. We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby’s … nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder.
“We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness. At this time, we ask for the privacy to grieve this unfathomable loss. With gratitude for your understanding and compassion.”
In the 2000s, Carradine charmed a new generation of fans as lovable TV dad Sam in “Lizzie McGuire.”
“There was so much warmth in the McGuire family, and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents,” the show’s star, Hilary Duff, wrote in her Instagram tribute to her on-screen dad. “I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering. My heart aches for him, his family, and everyone who loved him.”
Carradine’s family and estate are seeking unspecified general and wrongful-death damages and compensation for medical expenses incurred during his hospitalization.
Away from Coronation Street, Dylan Wilson actor Liam McCheyne has a well-known sibling
Inside Coronation Street Dylan star’s life including famous sibling who appeared on soap(Image: ITV)
Dylan Wilson has been a staple on Coronation Street for years – but what do we know about actor Liam McCheyne?
Liam plays Dylan Wilson, the son of Sean Tully (Anthony Cotton) and Violet Wilson (Jenny Platt). He first arrived on the cobbles in 2011 and later returned in 2022.
In Wednesday’s episode (July 15) Betsy is found unconscious and rushed to hospital, with doctors confirming that she has suffered a stroke caused by a blood clot. So, with more drama to come on the cobbles we’re taking a look inside Dylan actor Liam’s life, including his relationship with his soap co-star brother.
Liam on working with his brother on Corrie
The character of Dylan was originally played by both Liam and his twin brother Connor. And while Liam has continued his acting career, Connor seems to have hung up his acting shoes in favour of sport.
Talking about him and his brother landing the role of Dylan on Corrie, Liam previously said: “We were three years old and it was a total fluke way to get it.
“My neighbour across the road was on work experience for a local agency and she asked my mum if we would want to go and do an audition for her. She said even if we didn’t get it, it would help her with her work experience.
“My mum, dad and even nursery teachers all thought we would be too shy to do it. When we got here, and were in the casting, as soon as the cameras were on, we were like totally different children with our confidence and were laughing away.”
Liam and twin brother’s close relationship
Liam is still very close to Connor and regularly shares photos of them enjoying time together. Earlier this year, Liam shared a special update with his brother as in January, the pair took to their Instagram to share a post celebrating their 19th birthday.
Alongside photos of the twins over the years, Liam wrote in his caption: “Happy birthday to you best mate and right hand man @connormccheyne1 Here’s to the best memories throughout chapter 19!” Meanwhile, Connor penned: “Happy birthday to this one. @liammccheyne here’s to a top 2026.”
Liam’s Corrie return ‘was hard to take for Connor’
Meanwhile in 2024, Liam revealed that fans often stop his twin brother thinking it’s him. He said: “The funnier story is when people think Connor, my twin brother, is Dylan.
The actor added: “He’ll get stopped in Manchester on his way to college and won’t have enough time to say it’s not him before someone has a camera asking for a picture.”
Liam also previously revealed that when Dylan returned to the soap in 2020, both he and his twin brother were up for the role – and it was a hard decision for Corrie producers.
“They couldn’t decide here at Corrie who would be cast, so they sent it to an external casting agency in London. They literally went off my CV, based on the fact that I’d just come off Last Tango,” he said.
“That was hard to take for Connor, because he was very good. But we’ve both agreed in the past, and we’ve said publicly in the press, that it’s led to another opportunity for him. Acting wasn’t his thing in the end and it’s opened another door for him.”
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX
Two sons playing on opposite teams in a match. Who are you rooting for?
But this is not a kickabout in the local park or a schools’ match. This is a game at the World Cup.
There are four sets of siblings playing for different nations on the biggest stage of all, including Desire and Guela Doue who could face one another this summer.
Born to a French mother and an Ivorian father in the French city of Angers, the brothers play for Paris St-Germain and Strasbourg respectively.
They have taken different paths in international football, with two-time Champions League winner Desire, 21, turning out for France and overlapping full-back Guela, 23, playing for Ivory Coast.
“We tell each other everything and have no secrets,” Desire told French football programme Telefoot about his relationship with his older brother.
“He’s such a massive support for me in my daily life.”
But could their close bond be tested in the United States?
Should France finish runners-up in Group I and Ivory Coast finish runners-up in Group E, the pair will face one another in the last-32 stage in Arlington, Texas, on 30 June.
When Ivory Coast defeated France 2-1 in a pre-World Cup friendly on 4 June, Guela sang both countries’ national anthems before the match.
Desire, who had won won the Champions League with PSG five days earlier, was an unused substitute.
“It’s a shame I didn’t get to play against [my brother], as this was our first France-Ivory Coast match, but I’m happy, and he isn’t too fed up,” said Guela afterwards.
Jerome Boateng of Germany faced older half-brother Kevin Prince of Ghana in Johannesburg in 2010. Germany won 1-0. Four years later, the pair were on opposite sides again in Brazil when the group game ended 2-2.
Desire and Guela could well be next.
So, who are the other brothers appearing at this World Cup?
It was the summer of 1949 when a 22-year-old, newly hired Milwaukee photojournalist was assigned to take portraits of an unknown 23-year-old actor passing through town on a publicity tour. John Ahlhauser spent 30 minutes capturing seven photos of the up-and-coming starlet. One was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Ahlhauser took the other six home.
That unknown actor was Marilyn Monroe (although her legal name was still Norma Jeane Mortenson).
To celebrate Monroe’s 100th birthday on June 1, five photos from the shoot are being auctioned off through proxy bidding until Tuesday morning, when the live auction will occur. The photos were shot as part of a promotion for Monroe’s brief role in the Marx brothers’ final feature together, “Love Happy.” According to Ahlhauser’s daughter, Mame O’Meara, these pictures represent an unguarded and unedited version of the celebrity.
“When we took it to ‘Antiques Roadshow’ — which it did not get on at that moment — they said these are before she got her nose job, before she went platinum, and that she had developed a look in her eye in January of 1950 that really kept you out of her personal space,” O’Meara said. “They describe these seven little pictures as windows into her soul.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran one photo in 1949 and a second image was used in Gloria Steinem’s 1988 book, “Marilyn: Norma Jeane.” In 2011, all of Ahlhauser’s work was placed in a trust, including his photos of Monroe.
Monroe’s estate was controlled by Anna Strasberg, the second wife of Monroe’s acting coach and close friend, Lee Strasberg, since his death in 1982. O’Meara explained that the family waited to release Ahlahauser’s photos of Monroe because of the “contention” over Anna Strasberg’s ownership of Monroe’s image. Strasberg died in 2024.
“Strasberg was fighting in court for all of the images of Marilyn, and we put these in a trust and actually worked to keep them quiet at that time,” O’Meara explained.
When Ahlhauser died in March 2016, O’Meara and her five siblings inherited hundreds of their father’s yellow Kodak photo boxes. Inside the boxes were his photos of Monroe, organized with the “sleeve dated and with the assignment on the outside.”
“I wanted to touch absolutely everything in the boxes,” O’Meara said. “[My siblings] were both gracious, and none of them wanted to, and so I have had the privilege the last six years of going through every print he ever made, and I’m just working on the negatives now.”
However, O’Meara and her siblings aren’t entirely ready to let go of Monroe yet. While they’ll be auctioning off five of the photos, they’re planning to keep two.
“We’re selling these five, and people can take the copyright and put them on coffee mugs, or make an AI movie, or whatever they want to do with them,” O’Meara said, laughing. “We’ll just keep the two really nice ones that he was so proud of. We’ll keep those in his collection, and we can sell prints if we feel like it.”
While Ahlhauser’s photo of Monroe may become his most iconic image, the session didn’t feel like a particularly notable event in his career. It wasn’t as impactful as when he photographed the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago or civil rights marches in 1960s Mississippi. But for O’Meara, that’s where the beauty of these photos lies.
“They are both really nobodies; they’re both people doing a job,” O’Meara said. “And yet, when I look at those pictures, I think they both had to really allow themselves to let the camera find the vulnerability, and that to me is the art in it.”
