Tony Parker and Eva Longoria: The woman involved in their divorce committed suicide

Erin Benavides, the ex-wife of basketball player Brent Barry, had been suspected of breaking up the celebrity couple. Police found her body at her home.

Sixteen years ago, she found herself in the wringer of the tabloid press, her life and face suddenly dissected by media outlets worldwide. The reason? Erin Benavides was singled out as the main culprit behind the breakdown of Tony Parker and Eva Longoria's marriage. At the time, she was married to basketball player Brent Barry, star of the San Antonio Spurs, where Tony Parker also played.

The two players were experiencing difficulties in their respective relationships when the crisis erupted: the tabloids reported that the star of the series Desperate Housewives had found hundreds of messages from her husband addressed to Erin Barry...

"Stupid and false"

“I did not have an affair with Tony Parker, nor did I court him,” she explained as the scandal made headlines in the American media. “Unfortunately, because our divorces are happening at the same time, our friendship has been the subject of much speculation. My friendship with Tony Parker has nothing to do with the end of my marriage, which is already painful enough with this added drama, and to assume that we had an affair is naive, stupid, and completely false.” A denial that was never truly enough to dispel the suspicions of adultery…

After her divorce, Erin Barry finished law school and tried to fade into obscurity by pursuing a career in law, becoming an assistant district attorney in several Texas counties, where she handled cases involving children and immigrants. Three years ago, she was working alongside a new district attorney on human trafficking and organized crime cases before leaving her position two months before her death.

On Wednesday, October 14, she was found dead at her home in Port Aransas, Texas, which she shared with her new husband, Pablo Benavides. According to police, she apparently died by suicide from a gunshot wound to her bed while her husband was not present. Erin Benavides, 54, had recently been experiencing a period of depression, expressing her distress in a journal and looking for a new job, according to TMZ. An investigation is ongoing, but no foul play is suspected at this time.