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NFL Wife Tiffany Rivers Prepares for Ninth Child And New Swimwear Label

The spouse of Chargers QB Philip Rivers is gearing up for the launch of Hermoza swimwear and the birth of their baby in March.

- BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG

NFL fans may know Philip Rivers as a mercurial player, but his wife, Tiffany, described him as a more easygoing, spirited kind of guy.

His Los Angeles Chargers teammates and on-the-field opponents may think otherwise. His wife allowed that Rivers’ competitiv­e streak was even evident in elementary school, when the girls would race the boys up a magnolia tree in their Alabama town. “He was just very athletic. When he was on the field, he was on the field and it was game on. Off-the-field, he’s just super lightheart­ed and fun. He really hasn’t changed much at all, which is kind of neat.”

While the 37-year-old quarterbac­k readies to face the New England Patriots Sunday in a divisional-round matchup, his wife has her own deadlines: The couple’s ninth child is due March 1 and the launch of Hermoza swimwear is planned for that same month.

While the football pro has been a sounding board for his wife and her business partner Marisa De Lecce, “Right now he is totally in the thick of football. But we’ve talked a lot about the whole business and everything that goes along with that. He’s excited about it,” she said, adding that a while back he offered his opinion about a few print options. “We definitely don’t put everything into what he says. But if we’re stuck on something, we’ll ask him. He has really good advice.”

As for whether the quarterbac­k is confident about Sunday’s showdown in Foxboro, Mass., Rivers said during a phone interview from her California home, “Oh yes, yes, yes. He’s very excited. Everybody in this house is just over-the-moon excited. We’re already focused on next Sunday and are trying to figure out if we’re going to the game as a whole family. There is a snowstorm coming so that is a little bit crazy. Either way we’ll be cheering him on.”

Asked if there is a lot of conversati­on about the Patriots’ quarterbac­k Tom Brady, Rivers said, “Not really. Phillip doesn’t really know him too much personally, so we haven’t really talked too much about him. He’s a great quarterbac­k so I’m sure that’s definitely in Phillip’s mind a little bit — the competitio­n and everything. They’re friendly.”

Weeks away from their own family’s newest addition, Tiffany Rivers said her husband has been joking that they are having twins. The reality is their ninth child will be a daughter — the couple’s seventh. They also have two sons. “This is the third generation in Phillip’s family, who has seven girls and two boys so we were pretty excited about that. When we told his 91-year-old grandfathe­r, he said, ‘You didn’t have to go to the doctor to find that out. I could have told you — that’s family history.’”

Before their friendship turned into a business, Rivers and De Lecce used to commiserat­e about the lack of functional, modest swimwear.

Retailing between $150 and $200, the Hermoza line will consist mainly of one-piece suits with some tankinis, all in three fabric options categorize­d as Movement, Shape and Sculpt. The UV-protective, eco-friendly fabrics will include one made from refuse from the Mediterran­ean Sea. Their plan is to “really enhance the dignity of who you are as a woman instead of overly sexualizin­g you. What we also hold dear to our hearts is showing the beauty of a woman, looking at her and not just objectifyi­ng her and seeing parts of her,” De Lecce said.

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 ??  ?? Phil Rivers on the field and withhis wife, Tiffany.
Phil Rivers on the field and withhis wife, Tiffany.

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