Exclusive: Giannis and Mariah on getting engaged, their growing family, and the BIG reason they're helping other families

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee Bucks season gets underway this week, and as it happens, the season of giving.

The "BIG Give Back" kicked off Oct. 23. It's a donation drive spearheaded by the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation and Milwaukee Diaper Mission.

What better way to encourage you to donate money, diapers and wipes than to have Giannis Antetokounmpo and his fiancée, Mariah Riddlesprigger, sit down with CBS 58's Amanda Porterfield to talk about it.

They may be one of the biggest celebrity couples in the country, but as parents, Giannis and Mariah deal with the same things you and I do.

While number 34 thinks he's the expert at diaper packing, his fiancé says when it comes to changing, not so fast.

Amanda asked Giannis and Mariah to tell their own diaper stories.

"None with Mav, one with Liam, like the first couple of weeks or months when he was a baby and I was changing his diapers, sometimes I forget to like cover his privates and he would like, pee on you," says Giannis. Mariah Riddlesprigger says, "I never got peed on!"

In terms of who changes the most diapers in their house, it's Mariah, since Giannis is typically on the road with the Milwaukee Bucks.

"When there's a really bad blowout, he screams, and he's like, 'Mariah!'" says Riddlesprigger.

While it may be hard to believe, yes, these two change their own kids' diapers, and buy them, too.

Mariah talks about the expense of baby supplies, specifically diapers, when she goes shopping.

"I'm leaving the store, and I am looking at the receipt and I'm like, why am I spending this much?" says Riddlesprigger.

Which is why at her first baby shower - for now-toddler Liam - in lieu of presents, Mariah Riddlesprigger asked for diapers to donate to families who can't afford them. That was in 2020, and now, three years later, she's a vocal board member of Milwaukee Diaper Mission.

Her contributions have helped the organization provide more than a million diapers and wipes to families in Wisconsin in that time.

Riddlesprigger says she's learned a lot being on the board of Milwaukee Diaper Mission.

"That it's even more needed than even I thought. One in two families need diapers? That's a sad statistic," says Riddlesprigger.

"We are fortunate enough right now to afford them and we don’t have to choose between diapers and a meal. But there's a lot of families out there that have to make that decision. We were one of those families," says Giannis.

While Mariah came from a modest background, Giannis hasn't been shy about his family's struggles growing up.

Which is one reason Milwaukee Diaper Mission partners with CAFF, the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation, to help families like his, in honor of his late father.

"As CAFF, we are going to do the best that we can to help communities, open doors as much as we can, help communities in the states, Greece, Nigeria," says Giannis.

For families in the Milwaukee area, these two have freaky goals for the "BIG Give Back," where people from all over can donate money, diapers and wipes until Nov. 3.

They say their goal is to bring more awareness to the need of communities needing essentials like diapers, wipes and menstruation products.

With the Bucks season starting, a wedding to plan, chasing two boys and caring for new baby girl Eva Brooke, they have a lot on their own plate.

However, they say it's worth it and giving back is the mission of their still growing family.

"We want to have more; I want a big family. I want just a bunch of Antetokounmpos running around. I feel like it's even more of a blessing because we get to do this together, it's a partnership and I have a very good partner. I love them, I love my kids, but sometimes they drive me crazy," says Giannis.