Ryan Anderson Continues to Mourn Girlfriend’s Death

New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson lost his girlfriend, Gia Allemand, when she committed suicide this summer. Painful as it may be, Anderson is slowly picking up the pieces. Per the Orlando Sentinel: “Anderson, 25, the former Magic forward now playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, continues to grieve following the death of his girlfriend in August. Allemand, a former contestant on ‘The Bachelor’ who also appeared on ‘The Bachelor Pad’ reality television show, hung herself with a vacuum cord. Anderson found her. She was 29. ‘They say that God never gives you too much that you can’t handle,’ Anderson told me before facing his old team Wednesday night. ‘In a lot of ways, I thought this was too much.’ Near tears, his voice cracking, Anderson said getting through each day is a struggle. ‘Every day’s a roller-coaster, man. Every day is hard,’ he said. ‘I miss her every second … but I owe this to her. I owe this to myself. I don’t want to just be a basketball player and go home and have my life just revolve around that. I want it to be about changing lives, be a difference-maker. I feel like that’s why I’m here. Basketball isn’t why I’m here. This is why God put me on earth.’ He said his faith, friends, teammates and Pelicans coach Monty Williams are helping to pull him through. ‘My faith is what gets me through. Things don’t happen … that doesn’t happen for no reason,’ Anderson said. ‘I know where Gia’s heart was at. I know where she’s at. She’s in heaven right now. She’s incredibly happy. She’s pain-free. She’s not feeling that way anymore.’ […] Anderson and Allemand’s family are in the process of establishing a foundation to help people battling depression and contemplating suicide. ‘We have great things in store for helping a lot of people. This is so prevalent, but it’s … it’s a forbidden topic. It happens a lot. It’s something I want to really strongly voice and help people who are in similar positions she was in,’ Anderson said. ‘We live in a society that tells you you have to live a certain way, you have to be a certain person and a lot of people feel like they’re alone. They’re not alone. I want to make Gia’s name live on, even past mine.'”