Erica Mena and Safaree: Why are the couple filing for divorce now?

Love & Hip Hop star Erica Mena has filed for divorce from Safaree Samuels after a year and a half of marriage. ET first reported that the thirty-three-year-old star filed on May 21st in Fayette County Superior in Georgia. 

The announcement came as a shock for some fans, as just a few weeks ago Erica Mena and Safaree announced they’re expecting their second child. Others weren’t quite so surprised. Some online pointed out that in recent days Mena has been posting Instagram photos of herself without her wedding ring. 

It’s hard to keep up with the rapid-fire announcement that Mena & Samuels seem to put out on a regular basis. We’ve got a quick recap of all the news that the two of them have revealed over the past couple of years. 

Wifed up to the max🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/Ml8Jy6fVEr

— @IAMSAFAREE (@IAMSAFAREE) October 10, 2019

Surprise announcements

This isn’t the first time news from the couple came as a surprise. Back in 2019, Erica Mena and Safaree Samuels kept their fans guessing with back-to-back announcements. At the beginning of October, they released a video revealing Mena was pregnant with their first child. The internet was abuzz with the news, but the couple was just getting started.

Less than a week later, the two of them revealed via Instagram posts that they’d secretly gotten married. They had gotten engaged the previous December, but neither had said anything about wedding plans. Samuels posted a picture of the massive wedding band he’d bought for Mena with the caption “Wifed up to the max”. The rapper reportedly spent $500,000 on their rings. 

2020 was just as crazy for Erica Mena and Safaree as it was for the rest of us. In February, the couple welcomed their daughter Safire to the world. Through the early months of the year, the two of them appeared together on the Love & Hip Hop: New York season 10. Then, as the pandemic got underway, the two of them made waves online by starting a shared OnlyFans account in July.

After that, life seemed to calm down for the busy couple. That is, until now. 

“Erica and Safaree are getting a divorce.”

All of us: pic.twitter.com/g8oQADz948

— 🌪 (@frdrck___) May 25, 2021

Double whammy

Once again, Erica Mena and Safaree are generating so much news it’s hard to keep up. Just a few weeks ago, Mena uploaded a picture to Instagram announcing her third pregnancy. She & Samuels are currently expecting their second child.  Astute fans noticed that in her newest photos discussing the pregnancy, Mena wasn’t wearing her wedding band.

Now the reasoning behind that is clear. It turns out that Mena filed for divorce from Samuels last Friday. Mena’s divorce filing says that her marriage with Samuels is “irretrievably broken” and that there is “no hope of reconciliation” between the two. Neither she nor Safaree have made any public comments about the divorce yet.

Mena is asking for joint legal custody of Safire. According to the filing, she’s requesting final decision-making authority and primary physical custody on a temporary and permanent basis “with the parties having parenting time as determined in the minor children’s best interests”. Presumably, she will ask for a similar arrangement for their new child, but at the moment, it remains unclear if her request will be granted.

The filing also requested that Samuels pay Mena’s attorney fees and pay her regular child support. Additionally, Erica Mena is asking for the exclusive use of the home that the couple currently shares in Georgia. More developments are sure to come soon, but for now, Mena & Samuels have refrained from commenting publicly about the ongoing divorce.

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Were you as shocked by this news as the rest of the world? Let us know in the comments!