Erica Mena is past, believing she and Safaree Samuels will ever be. That much is “obvious,” the Love & Hip Hop star said at the Atlanta reunion show, which aired on Monday. But she also shared how little she believes Safaree cared for her during pregnancy.
“I was in the hospital bed with this man’s son. That man didn’t care if I made it through that pregnancy, that man didn’t care if I made it through that labor,” Mena said.
A judge signed off on their divorce in September after Erica filed in May 2021. Safaree will pay $4,305 in child support. Safaree and Erica share joint, legal custody of their daughter Safire and son Legend. Getting back to single status has been rocky for the ex-couple with online exchanges and accusations.
As Erica shared her experience, seemingly holding back tears, she explained doing motherhood alone for a second time.
“Like I had to drag myself out of that dark place. With my first son, because I had to hustle so much, I sacrificed so much time away from my firstborn that I’m still trying to make it up to this day,” Erica said. “And this is stuff that I’ve confessed and been vulnerable with to him about that’s why it’s weird that he knows the traumatic experience of being a single mother once, and then he turns around and makes me a single mother twice.”
Before Erica explained her pain, the host did ask Safaree if he was in any pain seeing the clips of their marriage dissolving and hearing Erica speak.
“You know I always try to purposely numb myself from everything so that I don’t feel pain. You know, I tell myself I don’t care, so that I can really believe it, but there’s pain,” Safaree said.
Mena says she’s beyond expecting accountability from Safaree. In her words, he doesn’t “owe [her] nothing” but owes their children, and that’s all she says she cares about.
Nothing is exactly what Safaree was giving at first until multiple castmates stepped in. The reunion host and castmate Lil Scrappy urged him to “come on,” but Safaree seemed reluctant. Another castmate Shekinah Anderson chimed in, saying, “grow up,” to which Safaree responded, “shut the f**k up.” Anderson shot back, “you can cuss me out, I’m cool with it.”
Again, Scrappy urged him to “speak bro” because there’s “somebody out there like [him.]” Safaree responded, “I don’t even know how to start.” Shekinah urged him again, then Kirk Frost also encouraged him to share his experience.
The father of two responded:
“Who wants to get married, have kids, and then end up here? I wouldn’t have thought two years later, this is where we would’ve been. We were just at a place of who could hurt who the most, and we were there for a long time. It sucks. Definitely sorry for the time our son was born, and I left a week later.”
Erica interrupted, saying it was “days,” not weeks after Legend’s birth, that Safaree left. As Erica continued to interrupt, both the host and castmates, like Bambi, tried to explain that he might not feel safe enough to speak. Safaree’s final word was that he hopes their relationship gets better.
