Angela Simmons is opening up about her 8-year-old son, Sutton Joseph Tennyson Jr., asking questions about his slain father, Sutton Joseph Tennyson.
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As a refresher, Angela Simmons began dating Sutton Tennyson in 2015 and then in April 2016, she announced that she was engaged. Later that year in September, the couple welcomed their baby boy, after much speculation. In late 2017, Simmons then announced in an Instagram post that she and her son’s father had called off their engagement.
During a confessional for the season 4 premiere of WEtv’s ‘Growing Up Hip-Hop,’ Simmons said, “I just got to a place where I felt like I wasn’t happy, and I tried, and I tried, and I tried and I wanted it to work because the last thing I wanted to do was not be together with the person I had my child with. God had another plan for me.”
Sadly, in 2018, Simmons’ ex-fiancé was fatally shot just outside of his garage. He was 37. In April 2022, Tennyson’s killer, Michael Williams was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on charges including: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during commission of a felony, and murder. Williams was also sentenced to another 15 years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He will be up for parole after at least 30 years in prison.
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Since the passing of her ex-fiancé, Angela Simmons has been raising her son as a single mom with the help of her village, including her family and ex-fiancé’s family. While recently appearing on Keke Palmer’s podcast, ‘Baby, This is Keke Palmer,’ Angela Simmons shared her journey of being a single mother and how her son has been asking questions about his late father.
Palmer began the conversation by noting how they are both single moms (coincidentally boy moms). Palmer also shared her condolences on the passing of Simmons’ ex-fiancé and asked her what has the journey been like; to which she replied, “It was very hard. Honestly, I didn’t see that coming.”
Simmons continued, “Obviously, even with me and his dad separated, it was just like, I never thought that could be me. It was a really hard thing to go through. I didn’t even know how to process it. Soon as everything happened, I honestly went to therapy, like, two days after it happened, because I was like, ‘I don’t know how to process this.’ My son’s name is his father’s name and I just never knew that would be me.”
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She added, “His father’s side of the family is absolutely supportive and amazing, and so that helps. And my family is so amazing. So, that helped me a lot. So, I’ve leaned into family a lot and that has been helpful for me, but I never thought I’d be a single mom. In your head, it’s got to be perfect. But, never say never, because you just don’t know.”
When asked how she explained her ex-fiancé’s passing to their son, Angela Simmons said, “It’s tough. He was only two when it happened. And even now, I want to say in the last two years, he looks online which made it really tough for me. I’m thinking the conversation I’m going to have with him would be when he’s 10. [But] he calls me, and I’m about to go to an event for Angela’s Cakes actually and he’s like, ‘Mommy…’”
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Simmons clarified that her son’s paternal grandmother called her and warned that he’s been asking how his father got murdered, which shocked her. Once on the phone with her son, Simmons said he was bawling crying, and asking why someone would want to shoot his father. She said the next day, he again asked if his father was murdered, which prompted Simmons to advise him not to look online for answers.
She said, “There’s too much online that I don’t even know what [he’s feeding into].” She continued to explain, “I just hated that the internet told my son before I can tell him. I was so bothered because he got the story and narrative from online before I could even sit him down and have that conversation.”
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