Tyrese has been negotiating the terms of a messy divorce that has supposedly financially handicapped him, and he’s now fired back at his ex for claiming that she wasn’t in it for the money.
The L.A. native and Samantha Lee split in 2020, following which the singer was ordered to pay his ex-wife $20,000 per month in child support to help raise their daughter. The large sum caused many to believe that she only married him because he’s rich, with Tyrese himself saying that he also thinks she had an ulterior motive.
The Shade Room reported that Lee recently took to her Instagram Live to deny these claims, saying: “People know I make us a good amount of money. Why would I do that for money? No. I love this person, and there were just certain things that just didn’t work out.”
Reposting the clip in a since-deleted Instagram post, Tyrese wrote: “I have NO CLUE who this person is…… #Gaslighting is the most vile form of manipulation she’s out trying to sell people on shit that nobody is sold on.”
He proceeded to narrow down exactly what he thinks of her, calling her a “Gold digger, Gaslighter, narcissist, manipulator.”
He then added: “For a woman who doesn’t want money from me, you’ve already hired THREE different LAW FIRMS, trying to crack the prenuptial agreement, you drug this divorce trial out into almost 3 years and now you’re requesting a new trial with a jury.”
Earlier this year, Tyrese was ordered to pay his ex-wife nearly $650,000 by a judge he publicly called out for being “racist.”
The Fast & Furious star attended a court hearing in his custody battle with Lee in late April, where he was held in contempt of court for failing to pay the $10,000 a month in child support he was ordered to cough up last August.
According to TMZ, Tyrese argued on the stand that the monthly amount was excessive as Lee allegedly earns a substantial income on her own.
The Alter Ego singer’s protest fell flat, however, as he was ultimately ordered by Judge Kevin Farmer to fork out $237,944 in back child support payments to his ex-wife, with whom he shares a four-year-old daughter named Soraya, and $399,000 for Samantha’s attorney fees.
The judge acknowledged that Tyrese has been paying child support all this time, albeit a significantly smaller sum of $2,236 per month. The $237,000 represents the monthly difference he owes, plus interest.
Tyrese was also told to foot a $17,000 bill for the special master in the case, a “subordinate official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed.”