EXCLUSIVE - Tyrese Gibson lays bare his 'pain' over bitter divorce from wife Samantha Lee - revealin
Singer Tyrese Gibson has opened up about his agonizing break-up from wife Samantha Lee - laying bare his ongoing struggle to deal with the 'pain' of watching his marriage 'go up in smoke'.
Samantha filed for divorce from the six-time Grammy nominee, 44, in September 2020, three years after their secret Valentine's Day nuptials. Now, Tyrese has shared his shock at the relationship coming to an end - admitting that he'd thought their marriage would last forever.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Tyrese said he wanted to be married to the social worker until he had 'no teeth left in my mouth', describing himself as a 'sucker' for the 'sanctuary of marriage'.
'Basically, I was in a relationship for five years – the love of my life,' he shared. 'I wanted to be married until I had no teeth left in my mouth, eating mashed potatoes and coleslaw. That's the vision I had. I kept my wedding band on consistently…
Tyrese Gibson has channeled the 'pain' of his split from Samantha Lee Gibson into his new album, Beautiful Pain
Tyrese has pushed back the release of his album as he is struggling to cope mentally with recording songs about his divorce
'I was up there with the Care Bears. I'm such a sucker for love, the sanctuary of marriage and anyone who is in love, it doesn't matter what race, nationality or sexual preference. There was nothing better than the beauty of love.
'And to have my marriage to just kind of go up in smoke right before my eyes has been very challenging for me.'
In an attempt to process their acrimonious split, which has been plagued by court spats over child support for their four-year-old daughter Soraya Lee, Tyrese began channeling his emotions into music for his upcoming double album Beautiful Pain, which he hopes will serve as a 'divorce deterrent' for fans.
However, Tyrese revealed that he has had to delay the album release because he couldn't 'mentally keep pushing through' singing songs about his divorce.
'I'm in the vocal booth singing songs, and I'm like, can't believe this is my life, can't believe these are my lyrics, my songs, can't believe this stuff happened,' he said.
In April, Tyrese was ordered by a judge to pay back child support of nearly $250,000 to Samantha, as well as $400,000 for her attorney fees.
It came eight months after he was told to pay $10,690 a month in child support, something he refused at the time.
The child support was backdated to when Samantha filed for divorce in September 2020.
The couple have made multiple court appearances over child support for their four-year-old daughter, Soraya Lee
The singer and actor said he believes his new album will be a 'divorce deterrent' for fans
Is This Love or Just a Transaction? – the second single from Tyrese's upcoming album – documents the couple's 'nasty' court battles.
'You know what happens in the courtroom,' he said. 'You know what happens when the lawyers get involved? It's about money. It's about all the other stuff, and it just gets nasty. And the kids and the separation.
'So, yeah, the album is entitled Beautiful Pain, and I would love for you all to just hear it and embrace it and anybody who's ever been through a breakup, I don't care if it's back in high school, I think the sentiments and the rawness and my vulnerabilities I put into these songs.
'I know people have been like, 'Oh my God, you made me go home and apologize to my wife'. And I didn't even do anything, you know?'
He continued: 'I feel like this album, although it derived from pain, I feel like this album is actually going to be a divorce deterrent.
'It's going to make people say, I need to love you better. I want to get closer. Let's forgive and forget. Let's unpack and have these conversations, because nobody wants to be that. Nobody wants to not be married.'
Tyrese was previously married to Norma Gibson with whom he has 16-year-old daughter Shayla Somer Gibson. The couple divorced in 2009.
Beautiful Pain is the follow up to Tyrese's 2015 album Black Rose which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
Gibson made the comments while promoting Fuel Fest with founder Cody Walker.
Tyrese opened up during an interview with Cody Walker who revealed how the Walker family would mark what would have been the late actor's 50th birthday
The brother of the late Fast and Furious actor Paul Walker broke down while discussing how his sibling would have turned 50 this month.
Speaking about plans to honor Paul on the 10th anniversary of his passing on November 30, Cody started: 'Coming on 10 years now, usually members of the family will take pictures of the sunrise or the sunset on his birthday.'
But he trailed off as he wiped his eyes and fought back tears.
Tyrese, who starred in the Fast and Furious franchise alongside Paul, quickly jumped up to hug his friend, offering him comfort as Cody broke down.
The duo traveled to New Jersey earlier this month for the inaugural FuelFest event, which was founded by Cody and his business partner Chris Lee, and co-hosted by Tyrese, who appeared alongside Cody's brother Paul in five Fast and the Furious movies.
A portion of the proceeds from the inaugural event were donated to Reach Out, the non-profit organization founded by Paul to help send responders to disaster-stricken areas to aid with the relief effort.
'Whenever a natural disaster would happen, Paul out of his own pocket, would put ten or 15 people on a plane and they would be there pulling rocks and helping the unburied people or helping in any natural disaster,' Cody said.
'So every FuelFest event we do, we're donating a portion of all of the proceeds from all of the ticket sales to reach out worldwide, because we got people right now in Hawaii with boots on the ground helping out.'
Tickets for FuelFest Las Vegas and Scottsdale are on sale now at FuelFest.com
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