Samantha Lee, former wife of Tyrese, says she has some regrets about divorcing the Baby Boy singer.
The licensed social worker recently appeared on the Hardly Initiated podcast and opened up to Ryan Catchings and Tysean Jackson about her feelings after admitting that she could have done things differently.
“It’s very important to seek wise counsel. You have to really decide and make a very calculated decision based on your belief systems,” Lee said. “I think we do take divorce very casually. I would never tell a woman to walk through that in the same frame as I was when I did it.”
Lee continued, “I was very, very, hurt, I was very angry. I remember when I made the decision I was hysterically crying on the phone with my attorney. I was not in any position to make that decision. I was extremely emotionally intoxicated.”
Gibson and Lee married in 2017 and divorced in 2020. They share one child together, a daughter named Soraya.
She explained that she was speaking to her attorney at the moment she decided divorce was the answer, which may have been a mistake. She also mentioned that she had other people in her ear adding fuel to the fire.
“I would never tell somebody to make that decision when they’re that emotional, but of course, I wasn’t talking to someone that genuinely would be for marriage or for reconciliation,” Lee further explained. “That’s no slight to my attorney, at the time when I was on the phone and I made that decision, I was livid. I was emotional. If I’m that emotional and I’m that hurt and I’m on that level, if it’s misguided and misdirected it could go in a bad direction.”
“The truth about the matter is that if I had different people in my ear at that time I would not have made that decision,” Lee said.
The social media influencer added that she’s an emotional person and at the time was only focusing on the bad as opposed to the good in her marriage. Lee also emphasized the importance of having someone who can check you and remind you of your partner’s strengths and positive aspects in times of conflict.
“You don’t win when a family is broken apart,” she said, later adding that getting lawyers involved made the entire ordeal ugly. “I was raised in a divorced home and it was a high conflict divorce and I didn’t want that for her,” she said, crying. “It’s hard for me because I made that decision.”
“Like if I could walk back in time, sometimes I battle with myself about that, but at the time I thought I was doing the right thing or the best thing. I didn’t know how ugly it could get,” she said. Lee concluded that even if you do calm down after filing for divorce, you’ve “made an irreparable hole” just because “you didn’t have the ability to step back” from your emotions.
Tyrese, 44, caught wind of the interview and had a response for his ex-wife, which he posted on Instagram.
“Congratulations, you went viral again over something else you said because you are trying to build up your YouTube page to get your followers up,” he said.
“You packed up a 1-year-old, put a COVID mask on top of the Ring cameras and I was literally in an airplane on my way home to fight for my marriage and my family.” The singer added, “You’re heartless. This is all about money.”
He also went on to address how much the mother-of-one is seeking from him in child support.
“If you had people in your ear at the time, they must be still in your ear because you still trying to get $20,000 a month for a 5-year-old,” he said. “You make $160,000 a year on your own. This is all a game. You’re clout chasing.”
Gibson believes Lee is weaponizing single motherhood to gain sympathy. “You’re playing on women who are single mothers. You’re playing on women who are actually in abusive relationships that are toxic, dark and dysfunctional.”
Tyrese is currently in a relationship with Zelie Timothy, whom he went public with in March 2021.