'RHOA' Star Porsha Williams Confesses She Had a 'Complex' Relationship With Simon Guobadia Before Their 'Nightmare' Divorce Exploded

While posing for a re-creation of a famous scene from Waiting to Exhale for its 30th anniversary, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams reflected on her recent relationship drama.

"I didn't expect today to be emotional," she told a media outlet. "But the moment I sat down at that vanity and started brushing my hair, just like Angela [Bassett] in the movie … it hit me: I've prettied up the ugly in my life too, when it wasn't so pretty. And I'm done doing that."

On June 11, Williams’ divorce from Simon Guobadia was finalized, a few weeks after the photoshoot took place. He appeared for a hearing via Zoom, as he was deported from the U.S. due to immigration violations, which included bank and credit card fraud.

"You go through different stages," the reality starlet noted of her split. "You have that anger. You have the moment where you have to fight for your life in a court situation. And then, toward the end, you have the clarity where you realize you are still blessed. Your family is by our side, your child is protected; there's a whole new life that you can start."

Looking back on her whirlwind relationship with Guobadia — which began in 2021 — Williams called herself a “true hopeless romantic.”

“Once I decide to be with you, I dedicate everything to you," she explained. "And Simon matched my energy. He's very warm. He loved spending time with me. We were freakin' extra. If we wanted to fly out of the country every weekend or post on Instagram together about how much we loved each other, he was down."

She felt he was a “safety net” due to bad situations she had been in in the past.

“But Simon, he was settled in his life,” she said. “And the biggest thing he used to stress to me was how he had grown. He was very upfront about the things he did in his past relationships and how he had worked on himself. I felt very protected by him. I felt like I met someone I could trust."

Once she discovered “complex” issues pertaining to Guobadia’s legal status, she knew her relationship was heading “down a dark road” and hired an immigration lawyer in January 2024.

"We had a real serious conversation because, being a supportive wife, I wanted to deal with this head-on," Williams explained. "I got it spelled out completely by an attorney who had been in immigration for 30 years. And my conclusion was: 'I don't want you to travel.' I begged for him not to leave the country. That was not honored."

When Valentine’s Day hit, the couple got into a fight, which she cited as the "point of no return.”

"There was some paperwork that needed to be handled, and I wanted to bring in some attorneys to represent me, and that was frowned upon," she elaborated. "And it wasn't really what he said, it was a look — a look that just felt dark. I just knew I was not looking at the same person I loved before. I could tell that he was just pretty much checked out of the relationship at that point."

Eight days later, Williams filed for divorce, noting she lost her ability to trust him, even though neither party cheated.