Jeannine Russell, widow of Celtics legend Bill Russell, has filed a lawsuit against his daughter Karen Russell, alleging that comments Karen made about her father’s health have violated a prior legal agreement and tarnished his legacy.
Family Battle
The suit was filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington, earlier this month.
Karen, 64, is Bill’s daughter with his first wife, Rose Swisher, to whom he was married to from 1956 to 1973. Jeannine was Bill Russell’s fourth wife, having married him in 2016.
The dispute centers on a Boston Globe column published last October in which Karen Russell discussed visiting former Celtics teammate Bob Cousy, who is 97, and referenced her father’s health issues.
“My dad had well-known cognitive issues,” Karen told the Globe, adding that he was hard of hearing late in life. Jeannine Russell disputes the accuracy of these statements and argues that they breach a confidentiality and nondisparagement agreement reached following an earlier court case.
In 2015, Karen Russell and her siblings sued Jeannine, claiming that Bill Russell, who was then elderly, was a “vulnerable adult” and being exploited by his wife, who legally controlled his name, image, and likeness. That case was settled out of court, with both sides signing a “Confidentiality and Nondisparagement Agreement and Mutual Releases” (CNA). Jeannine’s lawsuit claims that Karen violated the CNA by publicly asserting that Bill Russell suffered from cognitive decline, which she says was untrue.
“Though Karen made this claim, it was not true and was not substantiated in any proceeding,” Jeannine Russell’s legal team said in a statement. “Bill was cleared by a medical professional to make his own decisions. Karen voluntarily accepted over half a million dollars in consideration to retract this claim and agree not to make it publicly.”
Bill Russell, who passed away in 2022, was one of the most decorated players in NBA history, winning 11 championships with the Boston Celtics as a player and two more as a coach. His No. 6 jersey was retired league-wide, a distinction shared only by Wayne Gretzky in the NHL and Jackie Robinson in Major League Baseball. The NBA’s Finals MVP award now bears his name, with the most recent winner being Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown earned the honor in 2024. Russell also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010, and Boston honored him with a statue and the renaming of the North Washington Street Bridge as the “Bill Russell Bridge” in 2025.