I love my Atlanta audience, but I need yall to tell me what’s going on in the water with these public figures out there. From Married at First Sight to the latest Real Housewives news, ATL has been on the map for some Black relationship DRAMA.
In this week’s news cycle: RHOA star Porsha Williams announced her engagement to a multimillionaire businessman—Simon Iyore Guobadia—who was recently separated from his wife…of two years…who Porsha knew (somewhat) through the hit Bravo show.
Williams and Guobadia both posted on their respective social media accounts about the engagement, after stating that they’ve been in a relationship for about a month now. Quick engagements can happen, but that’s not what alerted me. Their posts with the relationship announcement include strategic wording such as “crazy in love,” “divorce has been settled,” “I did not expect to be blessed with a mate so soon,” and “#LoveWins.”
Look, I don’t know these folks personally, but when people start to put the timeline together for announced relationships, the math tends to show some people are painting something a “blessing” which in normal, everyday peoples’ lives, would be a mess.
Whatever the motivations are for the newly engaged couple, the appearance of the relationship raises eyebrows. The use of “#LoveWins” amongst other words they shared is leaving a bad taste in my mouth, particularly since Simon is still legally married to his previous wife.
For someone to go from married to separated, settling a divorce (settled does not mean it’s finalized), dating someone new, and getting engaged after a month of being in a relationship—all in the span of these last 5 months—seems suspect for all the reasons why this story has been trending on social media.
While Porsha is being labeled with so many names from Delilah to Jezebel, her fiancé is being exposed for his past and present behavior. He presents a refined presence on social media, but as more news comes out about this man, it shows that he has a history of not keeping just one woman in his life. Porsha—is this your king? As long as he has king money, that’s all that matters to some people—in the name of “love.”
The whole scenario is disrespectful of God’s institution of marriage at best. We’re in a time when people are truly lovers of themselves and lovers of money. Attention, clout, and fleeting fame become addictions that people will stoop to new lows to get their highs. Second-hand smoke wafts into the mainstream consciousness, impacting how we regular folk see relationships, friendships, and marriage longevity.
In a nutshell = news like this affects the culture.
They fuel the narratives such as women are only out for money and “high-value men” should be allowed to cheat. There’s also considering a growing disregard for others’ relationships and marriages by women—the trend online is scary as more women give up the idea of men being faithful and accepting the role of sidechick or other woman as long as their personal needs are being met. That seems like a surface-level issue of some deep wounds.
Even though both men and women who commit these Biblically and culturally moral violations need to be held accountable by the people closest to them, their accountability is really in the hands of the masses that follow them, cosigning their behavior because they’re rich, pretty, or on TV. Jumping ahead of the exposure with flowery statements are nothing new, and if anything, is telling that only more salacious drama is to come.
I write about this with everyday believers in mind, who see this and wonder if this is what love has come to. To me this is not love, it looks a lot like lust. That’s what lust does: it rushes, it forces, it wants more and more.
We gotta take a step back and stop accepting mess rebranded as blessings to support or emulate.
I’ll conclude that this is not the way to handle relationships. God’s way of doing things does not change, unlike the world’s way, which is tilting in a very selfish and carnal direction. If you find yourself discouraged by this, please refocus your mind on God’s truth about marriage, the character of a wife, the character of a husband. Pray for discernment for your friendships, business partnerships, and marriage (present or future) to protect what God truly blesses you with, not what you claim through striving.
