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Who is Rachel Nichols married to? ESPN reporter's husband Max targeted by trolls

Director Max Nichols maintains a low profile on social media and has not commented on her wife's career drama

Rachel Nichols' life is being dissected across news outlets globally after a call with LeBron James' PR advisor Adam Mendelsohn was leaked. In the call, she was heard saying co-host Maria Taylor, who is Black, got the lucrative gig at the 2020 NBA Finals because of "diversity". Following massive outrage after the leak, Nichols lost her job as a sideline reporter, and ESPN replaced her with Black sports journalist and reporter Malika Andrews. “We believe this is the best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals. Rachel will continue to host 'The Jump'," ESPN said in a statement. 

Despite offering an apology to Taylor on national television, Nichols has been pulled from sideline reporting at the finals, a job she held since last year. She had replaced Doris Burke, who had the job for 11 years. In the midst of all the drama where she was being ripped apart on Twitter for the race comment, an outlet named Jordan Thrilla ran an article in which they reported about an old rumor that Nichols had sex with Jimmy Butler.

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The article also said there was a sex tape featuring the two of them that leaked from the NBA bubble hotel room. Since then, major outlets have revisited the rumor and reported about it, following which Twitter has exploded once again and trolls are working in overdrive, flooding the platform with memes featuring Butler and Nichols.

The unsubstantiated article has since been taken down from the website but the hateful tweets continue. Butler hasn't addressed these rumors and Nichols has kept mum about it as well. Her husband of 20 years, Hollywood director Max Nichols, has yet to offer a comment about his wife's career drama as well as the scandalous sex tape rumors. He has also been targeted on Twitter where trolls have made him the butt of jokes after the Butler-Nichols rumors made a comeback. 

Who is Rachel Nichols' husband Max?

Nichols' husband of two decades, Max is a Hollywood director and actor known for 'Two Night Stand', which released in 2014, and 'Day 5', which premiered in 2016; he's currently developing a project named 'Chemistry Lessons'. Max married the sports anchor in May 2001, and the couple share twin 9-year-old daughters. Nichols is huge on social media with a massive following of 830k. Nichols has more than 5300 posts on her account, however, the majority of them feature her on the job. Similar to her social media, Nichols hasn't spoken about her husband Max in media interviews. However, they have made public appearances as a couple. 

Max and Nichols have known each other since they were teenagers and their first meeting happened at summer camp somewhere in Maine. The two went their separate ways to pursue their respective careers - Nichols started writing for WaPo after graduation and Max got a job at an indie record company Tommy Boy Music. The two found their way to each other after a decade. Max initiated contact after Nichols started to blow up for the quality of work she was producing. 

Nichols hasn't spoken about Max in interviews but she did talk about her twin daughters during an interaction with Hollywood Reporter. "I have twin third graders, so we’re trying to make life feel as normal for them as possible....Obviously, they know life isn’t normal — they’re not going to school anymore and all of that — but we will have these outdoor playdates where I will drive over to a friend of their’s house and the friend will sit in a lawn chair on their front lawn and my kids will be in the back tailgate of our pickup truck," Nichols said.