Sade sang about love on the front lines. Now for celebrities, their love lives are increasingly on front street.
Mega-hot Cardi B was still celebrating her engagement to Migos rapper Offset when other women posted their sex tapes with him. Cardi responded that cheating happens to everyone so why start over with someone else?
Celebrities can influence our relationships, according to Essence Magazine senior editor Charreah Jackson, a relationship expert.
“We know that people are watching what celebrities do more than ever so it definitely has an impact to see what are favorite celebrities, your favorite singer, your favorite actor,” Jackson says. “What’s happening in their home can definitely normalize things that happen in your home.”
Cheating scandals (think Tiger Woods) used to mean shame and divorce court. But no more. Actress Gabrielle Union went on to marry NBA star Dwayne Wade even after he confessed he had a baby with another woman. Lala Anthony is estranged from husband Carmelo after he reportedly fathered a child with his alleged mistress.
And it is not just celebrities.
“Believe it or not, nine times out of ten, the people are staying around,” says private investigator Patrick McCall, CEO of McCall Risk Group. “You’re presenting them with some pretty good evidence, some solid facts that this occurred, and they’re basically just saying, ‘I’m already invested, I have nowhere to go.'”
He says a lot of clients rationalize staying by saying they must have done something.
Jay-Z and Beyoncé may be the most high-profile couple to stay together through the tough times and make chart-topping albums and millions of dollars along the way—first Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” and then Jay’s “4:44.”
Jackson believes if the couple gets to the root cause of the cheating, they can rekindle their love.
But McCall disagrees.
“My honest opinion is, ‘Once a cheater, always a cheater,’ never going to change,” he says. “The possibility of that person doing it again is pretty high.”
–LISA EVERS
FEATURED CAST: LISA EVERS, Host and Executive Producer, Street Soldiers https://twitter.com/lisaevers
CHARREAH JACKSON, Senior Editor, Essence Magazine https://twitter.com/Charreah
JACK A. DANIELS, Psychotherapist and TV Host https://twitter.com/jackAdaniels
ANAIS, Star, “Love and Hip Hop: New York” https://twitter.com/therealanais
PATRICK MCCALL, CEO, McCall Risk Group https://twitter.com/mccallriskgroup