PHILADELPHIA - Allen Iverson was relaxed. Wearing a Philadelphia Sixers sweat suit, accented with his dazzling array of platinum and diamond jewelry, the man known as "The Answer" was ready to speak his mind.

If Tawanna Iverson was nervous, she never let it show - although this was clearly not her scene. Despite being married to one of the country's most popular athletes, she always has been more comfortable in the background, away from the white-hot glare that has been a fixture in her husband's life almost since the moment they met as high school students in Virginia.

During a turbulent summer, however, any haven that Tawanna Iverson had hoped to maintain was swept away in the maelstrom of controversy that followed her husband's July arrest for allegedly threatening with a gun two men he suspected of harboring her in a West Philadelphia apartment after a domestic dispute.

Their private life was turned into a public spectacle, opened raw for consumption and scrutiny.

Even though the judicial process ran its course and all charges against Allen Iverson were dropped, life for the couple had been altered, possibly forever.

For more than an hour Monday at the team's practice facility, the Iversons openly discussed what happened last summer - for the first time since Allen was accused - and how it has affected their lives. Occasionally injecting playful banter, they addressed a number of issues. Among them:

Allen Iverson's newfound fear of Philadelphia and that some police officers might be out to get him.

The feeling that their family's privacy had been invaded by the round-the-clock surveillance of their suburban home.

How Allen Iverson explains the media's treatment of him, and how he wishes they would leave his wife and children alone.

The media circus

"I wasn't shocked by any of it because that's the way it's been with me," said Allen, referring to the crush around his home after his arrest. "I can't even say since I've been in the league. It's been that way with me since the world has known Allen Iverson, as far as high school, college and up to this point right now. It seems like I've always had a microscope on my life and everything that I've been through, dealt with.

"It was just a horrible experience having people outside of my house, 24 hours. Helicopters flying over my house because of something I was accused of. My kids not being able to go outside and play because of the media coverage ...

"The media makes you, and they break you. It's as simple as that. It was a bad experience for [his wife] because she ain't never been one to speak to the media, deal with the media or anything like that. But when the incident happened, she was the top story. It was just a bad experience overall."

Tawanna got a harsh lesson in Media Blitz 101.

For a time, the Iversons said they virtually felt like prisoners in their own home, with an endless wave of media members acting like 24-hour guards watching their every move.

"I felt like the media was ridiculous," Tawanna said. "I mean, they sat outside my house, like [Allen] said, but you wouldn't know they were there until 11 and 12 o'clock at night, shining bright lights into my house. It was just crazy, and at the same time I felt it was, of course, just an invasion of privacy that stemmed from something that never happened."

Stories were run alleging that the incident began with a domestic dispute and that Allen had thrown Tawanna out of their home.

"I was never thrown out of the house naked," Tawanna said.

The Iversons said it appeared to them that the media tried to make it look as if their family was making light of what was happening.

"We had a party?" Allen said, with a quizzical look. "The night before I turned myself in [to the police], they said we had a party. I mean, why would we be having a party? That's nothing to party over."

Allen said the media crush reconfirmed his belief that some of the things written about him are only done to sell newspapers and increase ratings.

"I just feel that because it's me, and because everything I've been through in my life," he said. "I don't really look at the media like they're just harsh to me because they hate me. It's just because it's their livelihood. It's the way they eat, the way they have to survive ...

"I don't really think people in the media are as bad as they act. It's just their job. It's just the way life is."

Perception

Allen has been criticized for the way he dresses, the way he speaks, the way he wears his hair, the company he keeps. What happened last summer only gave his critics another opportunity to ask, "What doesn't he get?"

"I see it, but I'm me," Allen said. "I'm a human being, man. I make mistakes like everybody else. I try to live my life as positive as I can. I mean, some things, I just can't control. People say what they want to say."

Tawanna said what Allen's critics don't see are all the good things he does. And it particularly bothers her when people imply her husband takes for granted all that he has.

"That's not accurate," she said, "but that's what the media does to him. He's very appreciative, and what the world doesn't see is that he's a wonderful father and husband. He's appreciative of that, also.

"Where he comes from built him into who he is. ... He makes mistakes, and he learns and grows from those mistakes. That's how I look at it. I can't say there's been a time when he hasn't been appreciative of what he has.

"He loves his family and friends. He's very loyal to them. If he didn't appreciate them, he wouldn't do things for them. If he didn't appreciate his career, that some people say was given to him but is something he's worked for all of his life, he wouldn't be where he is.

"Yes, he plays for 76ers, but he also gives to charities. He has a foundation. Does things for the Boys & Girls Club. He wouldn't be that person if he didn't appreciate what he has."

"What? You don't tell me that [garbage]," Allen playfully said. "You make me feel good. Type that up for me."

Their children

As difficult as it is for them to have to live a life in the spotlight, the Iversons said their biggest concern about last summer is how it affected their children, Tiaura (7) and Allen II (4).

"I think we've grown closer as a family," she said.

"We have two kids to raise, and we're trying to raise them as normal kids. Yes, they are the kids of Allen Iverson, star of the 76ers, but we raise normal kids. They shouldn't have to walk around on eggshells and not be able to be kids."

Allen conceded that the media blitz last summer hit in the only place he is vulnerable: his family.

"This is the worst feeling in the world," he said. "I can deal with all of the crazy [stuff] they say about me. I can honestly deal with anything except [attacks on his family]. My family, that's what I'm living for. I'm living to provide for my wife and my kids. That's the only thing I feel like I want to defend myself for: my family."

Things have changed

The Iversons said you cannot go through what they went through last summer and not have your lifestyle change.

Again, it has most affected Tawanna, who no longer has any semblance of the privacy she so cherished.

"I don't like to go out," she said. "Normal things, like going to the grocery store and pumping my own gas, that was fine with me. But that's not cool with me anymore. Everywhere I go, I've got to hear, 'There she is. That's Iverson's wife.' ...

"Our lifestyle has changed since this summer. Everybody knows our address."

In fact, they are in the process of selling their house.

And Allen says the increased attention on Tawanna makes him afraid for her.

"I always worry about her," he said. "She doesn't sit with everybody else anymore at games. ... Now you've got women who are jealous as hell of her, who will come up and say anything to her. I'll walk out with her after a game and there are women screaming, 'Allen, she just wants you for your money. You should get with me.' And 'Allen, she ain't[anything].' "

City of Brotherly Love?

Since he was drafted by the Sixers in 1996, Allen Iverson has always maintained he wanted to play his entire career in Philadelphia. During the times of trade talks, he always said he wanted to stay.

But after last summer, he said he felt something about Philadelphia he never had before: fear.

"That's one of the main things I wanted to talk about," he said. "I want to be in Philadelphia, but I'm scared now to be in Philadelphia.

"I've heard about police officers toasting to Allen Iverson's next felony conviction. I'm hearing about police officers saying I'm involved with this, that and the third.

"It scares me because I know that if there's any crooked cops out there, they can do anything. A crooked cop can do anything. Allen Iverson can end up dead tomorrow if a crooked cop wants him dead. It's as simple as that."

Last word

As the conversation wound down, the Iversons ended by saying they weren't angry anymore. They didn't even hold a grudge against the media they feel persecuted them.

"This is just the way it's going to be," Allen said. "It's a bad thing, but it's our thing. It's our life, and we have to deal with it. There are people in far worse situations than we have. ...

"I'm willing to deal with it. What doesn't kill can't do nothing to me. If it don't kill me, I'm good. I'm straight. ... I may stumble, but I promise you I won't fall."