How a ‘Ready to Love’ Star Relates to TikTok Sensation, Reesa Teesa

The Big Picture

• Reesa Teesa’s story went viral, sparking debates on love and betrayal.
• Symone Redwine shared a similar experience on reality TV, empathizing with Reesa.
• Both women faced heartbreaking lies about finances and family, but found healing through sharing their stories.

Over the past month, social media and mainstream news have been inundated with the tragic story of Ressa Tessa. Her candid tale of deception and betrayal unfolded in a TikTok series that unfolded in 50 episodes and quickly became a trending topic across multiple social media platforms. Her opening line sounded like the opening of a docuseries on Lifetime or, better yet, the ID channel, – either way, it could’ve served as reality television gold with her stating: “I’m going to tell the story of how I met, dated married, and divorced a pathological liar.”

Reesa Teesa’s story of heartbreak with her ex-husband, she referred to as Legion, resonated with millions of women across the country, but met criticism from others. During trending topics on The Breakfast Club,Charlamagne Tha God suggested Reesa Teesa was more susceptible to being taken advantage of because of her body type. “Does she have a big back? Because this sounds like big back behavior,” he joked with co-hosts Jess Hilarious and DJ Envy. While many sided with Charlamagne, others rose to Ressa Teesa’s defense, stating that Reesa Teesa’s vulnerability had nothing to do with body size and instead was a result of a man love-bombing a woman who simply wanted love. Ready to Love alum, Attorney Symone Redwine, sat down with Black Girls Texting podcast and shared a story with numerous similarities to Reesa Teesa’s story.

Symone Redwine Can Relate to Reesa Teesa

Symone met, Rashid Floyd, a man she believed was the man of her dreams in season 3 of OWN’s hit dating series. Although their love journey wasn’t highlighted during their time on the show, sparks flew on camera between the two, and after their journeys ended on the show, and they made their relationship public, Ready to Love fans were beyond excited. Coming off a popular reality series immediately thrust Symone and Rashid into the spotlight, in a high-profile relationship with fans who were invested in their love story. Rashid was introduced to the Ready to Love audience as a high-powered auto broker who specialized in exotic and foreign cars for an elite clientele, while Symone was a million-dollar injury attorney, creating the perfect power couple DNA.

Aside from their affluent profiles, Rashid was tall and handsome, Symone slender and fair-skinned with hazel eyes and long curly reddish blonde hair. The two came together to create a beautiful couple with tons of potential. Unfortunately, that potential was snuffed out when Symone learned that the lifestyle Rashid presented was completely fraudulent. To the naked eye, Symone and Reesa Teesa have little in common from their physical features to their background and careers, but Symone believes their commonality led to their similar experiences. “Narcississts looking to take advantage of a woman, know to look for a woman who really wants love and one that loves hard. That’s it. It has nothing to do with the way a woman looks,” she shared.

Fortunately for Symone, she adhered to the writing on the wall and removed herself from the relationship before the two made it down the aisle. Reesa Teesa married ‘Legion’ after a whirlwind courtship in which he initially paid for everything and love-bombed her with affection. Believing she’d found her knight in shining armor, she allowed him to move into her house during the pandemic. Symone can relate to getting caught up in amazement by Rashid’s treatment. She says her family and friends were all convinced that he was a great catch and very supportive of their engagement. But after the dust settled and the two began looking at a life together, Rashid’s flashy lifestyle started revealing it was more smoke and mirrors than substantial wealth.

Willing to be a team player, Symone says she attempted to help him get his credit back in good standing and even went to the extreme of finding him a business mentor to assist him with his entrepreneurial goals without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, Rashid refused to take business coaching seriously and instead continued lying to Symone and others about his finances. She also discovered many of the vehicles he claimed to own were in other people’s names, and he had massive debt. “The problem wasn’t necessarily the debt, because I believed with a plan we could work on that, but the fact that he kept spending to impress other people. It was always about impressing others with outlandish material things,” she shared. Symone’s breaking point was discovering he’d used their wedding fund to pay his child support and having to tell family and friends who had purchased flights and hotel stays for their wedding that it wasn’t happening. “I checked our wedding account and there was a $15 balance. I couldn’t believe it,” Symone revealed.

Symone Redwine’s Betrayal Was Heightened Because of Reality TV

According to her TikTok series, Reesa Teesa’s husband lied about finances, but he also lied about familial relationships. She detailed him faking conversations with a brother that didn’t exist, among other lies. Symone empathizes with her because the most hurtful mistruth Rashid told her had nothing to do with money. In her late thirties at the time of their engagement, Symone said having a child was something she was extremely excited about. She wore the stepmother hat, proudly bonding with Rashid’s son from another relationship, but was eager to start a family with her husband-to-be. Symone said she started hinting at them working on trying to have a baby and Rashid discouraged her from IVF as an option. He assured her they would be fine attempting the natural way without assistance. He also dismissed her suggestions that he get tested to ensure his sperm count numbers were in sync with creating a successful pregnancy.

According to her interview with Black Girls Texting, she later learned that Rashid was unable to have any more children. Heartbroken, Symone made the difficult decision to end the relationship, but the experience took a toll on her mental health. She acknowledges feeling extremely depressed and even suicidal for a time after realizing the amazing love story she’d waited so long to embrace had come to a tragic end.

Sharing Heartbreak on TikTok Proved Therapeutic For Reesa Teesa

For Symone, Reesa Teesa, and the countless other women who have experienced traumatic heartbreak at the hands of a liar there is light at the end of the tunnel. Today, Symone’s career is thriving and she is slowly returning to the dating scene with hopes of finding her forever love. Reesa Teesa was a guest on Good Morning America and The Tamron Hall Show, where she explained how sharing her experience on TikTok was cathartic, but she is presently enrolled in therapy doing the work to heal. She also has secured a few minutes of fame that hopefully can be transitioned to something more positive.

Charlamagne issued an apology to Reesa Teesa for his insensitive joke about her body size being connected to her betrayal. Social media have given us the gift of connection and allowed us to see that we don’t experience hurt or betrayal in silos. For anyone with a heart, there is the possibility that your heart could be broken. But examples like Reesa Teesa and Symone prove there is always an opportunity to share, grow from the experience, and possibly love again.

Ready to Love can be streamed on OWN.

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