NEED TO KNOW
- Porsha Williams tells PEOPLE fans wrongly assumed her marriage to Simon Guobadia was “fake” and only about money
- The RHOA star defends their relationship, says their love was real and that she’s always been a businesswoman
- Williams tears up reflecting on their split: “We were connected… and I guess now I’ll have to care from afar”
Porsha Williams is setting the record straight about her marriage to Simon Guobadia.
In a chat for PEOPLE’s Waiting to Exhale-inspired digital cover story, the television star opens up about her relationship with her ex-husband, addressing the strangest theory fans have about their bond.
It was one of the things Williams was hoping to tackle on her return to The Real Housewives of Atlanta after a three-year hiatus from the hit Bravo series that helped make her a household name. After all, she had left the series just as her romance with Guobadia, 61, began, meaning the franchise’s viewers never had a chance to see their relationship dynamics play out in front of the reality cameras.
But before filming began on season 16, Williams shocked the world by filing for divorce from Guobadia.
“People really thought it was fake!” Williams, 44, says of the “biggest misconception” she heard about their partnership. “They thought I was just in it for the money, and none of our love was really real.”
She certainly understands it. On Instagram, the two appeared to be having a whirlwind romance, traveling all over the world in private jets and endlessly gushing about their love for one another. Heck, they had not one but two weddings in November 2022: a traditional Nigerian ceremony honoring Simon’s heritage, followed by a lavish American celebration in Atlanta.
But almost as fast as they had gotten together — and just as they would be putting their relationship in the unforgiving hands of the reality tv editors — poof, they were done.
“Look, you’re not going to really get to know us from Instagram. And I know the fans, they were excited to see Porsha Guobadia on Housewives,” Williams says. “Okay, listen — I was too, You think I wasn’t excited about bringing Porsha Guobadia and Simon Guobadia from Instagram to Real Housewives? Of course! We were going to have so much fun, and we were preparing for it together and all that! But life happened.”
Does she regret that? “It is what it is,” she says. “I’m not going to hold onto something and try to make a relationship work just so I could put it onto the show. That’s not real.”
Still, Williams doesn’t necessarily like the rumors that persisted because of that — though she has learned to shrug them off.
“The people who thought I just got with him because he had money, maybe those people are new to Housewives or don’t have Google or haven’t looked up anything I’ve ever done, because I’ve always been a businesswoman,” she says. “I was a businesswoman before I married my first husband. I just let it all go to be a wife. But then, after we divorced, I started all over again. Built my businesses again. So it really wasn’t necessary that the man I get with be rich.”
“Now, was it great that Simon took me and put me on that jet? Yes, honey! Was our lifestyle beautiful? You bet it was. It was great. Just being able to get up and not have to go and do this job out of the state here and there? But that’s not the reason I was with Simon. I make my own coins.”
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That, she does. Williams has a string of successful businesses, including Go Naked Hair (a line of premium wigs, bundles, closures, frontals, lashes, and more), Pampered by Porsha (a luxury sheet collection) and Porsha4Real (her thriving YouTube channel).
“I’ve always been someone who likes to work,” Williams says. “And in many ways, I’m just getting started. There’s so much coming on the horizon for me in that field. I will never stop pushing myself to do more and more.”
Work has been helpful for Williams as she’s navigated the end of her marriage. It’s one of the things she’s still throwing herself into now that their divorce was finalized. (She appeared remotely from Scotland for her final court appointment on June 11 because she is filming season 4 of The Traitors.)
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But no matter how she tries to distract herself, Williams still feels the heavy emotions that have surrounded the end of her marriage to Guobadia.
“We really loved each other,” she tells PEOPLE. “And it’s sad. The hardest part is that we are in this place and that we are not friends and we don’t speak. And I don’t know if we’ll ever hold space again together. I really hate that.”
She gets emotional, tearing up as she talks. “Just imagine a person on this earth who you connected with, who you laid in a bed with, who you lived with, who you confided in, who confided in you. You were their world, they were yours. And now, that’s completely over and you’re supposed to live like it never even happened?”
“It’s hard,” she says. “I can never know if he’s okay again. I can never talk to him again. I can never experience happy moments or any moments with him again. And I know people be like, ‘Oh, she’s full of it because you divorced him.’ But it doesn’t work like that. I’m an energy person and I know that you don’t come in contact with many people who you blend energy well with, you vibrate well with. We were connected. But that’s over now. And I guess that I’ll have to care from afar, and that’s okay. And I’m okay with that.”
For more on Porsha Williams, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
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