Angela Simmons is opening up about her 8-year-old son, Sutton Joseph Tennyson Jr., learning about his father’s murder on the internet.
During a recent appearance on the Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast, Simmons, 37, recalled receiving a call from her son’s paternal grandmother warning her that her eight-year-old son was asking questions regarding his father’s death.
Simmon’s former fiancé, Sutton Tennyson, was tragically shot and killed outside his Atlanta home in 2018. The couple welcomed their son, Sutton Joseph Jr., in September 2016 but split in December 2017.
“She calls me and says, ‘I’m giving you a heads up; he’s asking how his father got murdered,’” Simmons recalled.
“So he gets on the phone with me, and he’s bawling, asking, ‘I don’t know why he’s not here, but why would somebody shoot him?’”
The following day, he again asked if his dad was murdered, prompting Simmons to advise him against searching for answers online.
“There’s too much online that I don’t even know what [he’s feeding into].” she continued.
“I just hated that the internet told my son before I could tell him. I was so bothered because he got the story and the narrative from online before I could even like sit him down and have that conversation.”
Simmons explained that her son began asking questions about his father when he was just three years old. Although she told him that “a bad guy did something bad to him,” the questions persisted.
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Later on the podcast, Simmons talked about raising her son as a single mom with the help of her family and the turmoil she experienced after her ex-fiancé’s passing.
“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,” she shared.
“ 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.”
Thankfully, her in-laws were there to help her through the heartache.
“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,” she added
“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.”
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