The Rockets’ 25-year-old starlet, Tari Eason, is reportedly seeking relief against a 32-year-old Marilyn Maritza Melo Rodriguez, who has been described as someone Eason used to date.
According to TMZ, Eason has filed a petition for a restraining order against Rodriguez after an alleged incident of domestic violence. The 25-year-old Rockets player claims that Rodriguez not only punched him in the face, but she also made one of her friends call Eason to threaten him.
Eason said her friend claimed, “that she would ‘break both of my legs’ and ‘kill me'”. These alleged threats, he said, made him fear for his life, and hence he sought the court’s protection.
Moreover, he accuses her of destroying $92,000 worth of personal property, which included designer clothes she poured bleach over. As per Eason’s recollection of the incident, he was dropping Rodriguez off at home upon her own mother’s request when their discussions turned violent, and she punched him.
Eason says that after he dropped her off, she snuck into his Airbnb and destroyed his clothes by pouring bleach on them. The Rockets player is now hoping that the court grants him a restraining order in this matter, where Rodriguez is asked to stay away from him, his personal property, and all arenas in California where Houston might play in the future.
Hours before this news came to light, Tari Eason’s mother, Teroya Eason, had been addressing accusations against the 25-year-old for seemingly trolling Rodriguez on social media. Fans also alleged that this was in the aftermath of a miscarriage, which initially painted a very different picture of what Eason was doing.
“I promise you very soon. Everybody’s gonna realize how crazy people really get when they don’t get what they want. And it’s so much deeper than that because he left her before the pregnancy. I’m not even sure it was ever his.”
“The miscarriage was always the plan, but she was hoping he took her back and they could miscarry together with this weird stuff, but he never did, so several weeks before the baby shower and several weeks after, I’m asking for a blood test now there’s no more baby?? I’m sorry, mental anguish.”
“I wanna know what happened to my grandchild. At the very least, you’re gonna publicly tell these people that you are lying about this young man. I told his dumb a– women are smarter. We are smarter, and some of us use that to such a sick advantage; she is outer limits,” wrote Eason on X.
“Yes, I meant smarter. I said that. Especially since she was a decade older; that’s more what I meant, but I don’t wanna be making fun of her age because that’s only a part of the issue. She definitely is more advanced in how she thinks than he is. And he learned a lesson. People’s intentions are weird,” she said.
“I can paint you a picture. Say you break up with someone. Fully break up, no contact. A month later, they come back saying they’re pregnant. You ask for months to get a blood test; there’s always one excuse after the other.
“Finally, you have your business people text; that doesn’t work. The lawyer finally has to send a letter. Just wanting a blood test. Because the baby shower is coming up.”
“Two weeks later there’s no baby. Yes, I’m telling you it could be the plan. The plan was. I say I’m pregnant. He takes me back. Then I have a miscarriage. Or get rid of it, but at least I have him back, and then we can really get pregnant together.”
“Only he never took her back. And she kept getting angrier and angrier and doing very violent things to the point where they could have no contact.”
“And now she’s on the Internet, sharing all of his messages. Only his mom is the crazy one. So she’s gonna have to learn a lesson too. I wanted that grandbaby, and I hate all of this,” she added.
“And worst of all, forget the blood test; I mentioned it to her last week. I wanted to know what’s going on with the baby, and within two days we got this Internet sob story about her having this miscarriage.
“I think she got pretty afraid that I was gonna start controlling the narrative, and she got ahead of it. But we were already dealing with court matters, so she’ll never get ahead of me. She’s not the actual crazy one here.
“I’m not letting her destroy his character because she’s mad. I’m making an example of her, so it stops happening to so many ball players. Don’t believe me, just watch,” she wrote.
“You could never be sorrier than I am. We have all learned a lesson. But I just cannot sit back idly by and let somebody try to destroy something he’s worked for because they’re mad. It’s simply not fair. And anybody who knows me knows I’m not putting myself out there for lies.”
“I have to believe what I believe and know what I know before I start speaking. When I come on here and rant about basketball because I spent so much of my life following, respecting, and watching and learning about it.”
“I’m not just a crazy mom standing up for her kid. I know this game. People are weird. Thanks for communicating in a way that is respectful because some of the s–t I’ve seen over the last couple of days is disturbing,” Eason concluded.
Clearly, Tari Eason’s domestic situation is worse than what it seemed to be. And considering that this has been allegedly happening through the 2025-26 season, people were speculating why Tari Eason was facing the worst shooting slump of his career.
And seeing what Eason was apparently going through at the time, the only takeaway here remains not to jump to conclusions too soon. Off-court activities can inadvertently distract you from your game.
In a year when Eason was betting on himself after turning down a $100 million contract, such a distraction may have cost him $18.5 million. Eventually, he agreed to an $81.5 million extension with the Rockets this summer.
Eason ended 2025-26 averaging 10.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while shooting 42.2% from the field and 35.5% from beyond the arc. One can be optimistic that if he did not have the off-court distractions, he would be capable of performing much better than he did.
We hope that this ugly situation is expeditiously resolved so Eason can resume focusing on basketball and can play more freely after getting relief.
