Are Erica Mena and Safaree Samuels back together? 'LHHA' stars welcome second child
Safaree Samuels of 'Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta' fame has welcomed his second child with estranged wife Erica Mena. The 39-year-old rapper and TV presenter shared the good news on Instagram with a photo showing him cradling his newborn baby. "MR Straittt Jr is here!! 🙏🏾 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾," Samuels captioned the photo, presumably implying that the child is a boy. 'Straitt' is a reference to his 2020 album of the same name.
The infant son is the second child of Samuels with 33-year-old model Erica Mena, with whom he also shares a 17-month-old daughter Safire. In the latest photo, the rapper can be seen lovingly looking at the child. He additionally shared another photo of the baby on the Instagram story, which shows the little one grabbing his finger. "Another me…. That's all the world need," he wrote about the photo. He, however, did not mention anything about Erica Mena.
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Are Erica Mena and Safaree Samuels back together?
Mena, who regularly posted her photos through different stages of her pregnancy, has not updated her social media yet after the birth of the child. Mena and Samuels both starred on the VH1 reality show 'Love and Hip Hop'. They got married in secret in October 2019 and welcomed their daughter Safire the following year.
Mena and Samuels announced that they were expecting their second child on May 3, 2021. In a now-deleted Instagram post, Samuels wrote, "Safire got a new sibling 😇😇. New baby who dis?? 🙏🏾🙏🏾 #2under2 time to get neutered 🤣🤣 now I need a chef and a nanny 😂😂." In the same post, Mena had commented, "Get ready!!!! Any day now ❤️"
However, shortly afterward, the shocking news of their divorce made headlines. Mena filed for divorce from her husband of less than two years on May 21, 2021, in Georgia's Fayette County Superior Court. While none of them officially disclosed the reason behind their separation, court documents obtained the Page Six stated that the marriage was "irretrievably broken" and there was "no hope of reconciliation".
The jury is still out on whether the birth of their second child will reconcile the couple. However, that seems unlikely since Samuels completely ignored mentioning the mother of his children in his latest post with the newborn baby. Mena had sought joint legal custody of their children, along with child support, legal fees and sole use of the couple's home in Georgia. She also requested physical custody of their elder child on a temporary and permanent basis "with the parties having parenting time as determined in the minor children's best interests."
Though she did not share the reason behind the divorce, many blamed Sameuls's alleged cheating video as the reason. Samuels, who had dated Nicki Minaj in the past, was reportedly seen cheating on his wife Erica with another ex-girlfriend. He later apologized to his wife amid the cheating rumors. Post their separation, Mena shared a tweet on her Instagram story that read, "I'd rather loyalty than love. And no the two are not the same."