Chad & Evelyn: A Marriage Made In Infamy

I'm BAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!! (Did you miss me?) I've been busy working on other projects but I will be having weekly posts again so stay tuned...

~Elle Shanice~ NOTE: I do not condone domestic violence against a woman or man, alleged or proven. 

It's no secret that celebrities link up and date for publicity purposes, and the latest example of this is the crash and burn relationship of reality star Evelyn Lozada and former NFL wide receiver Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson.

The now-divorced couple met on Twitter, had several dates broadcast on Lozada's show Basketball Wives, dated for less than a year, got married and had a domestic violence incident where Johnson "allegedly" head-butted her after she confronted him about a receipt that she found for condoms. That caused Lozada to file for divorce, Johnson was subsequently released from the Miami Dolphins, their upcoming reality show was CANCELLED. The divorce was finalized last week, ending their marriage after only 41 days and breaking the seemingly-unbreakable record of 72 days by Kim Kardashian and ex-husband Kris Humphries.

This marriage was doomed from the start: I knew from the beginning that this was a publicity stunt because both of them are media hungry and thirsty for fame. Evelyn (who I call "EVILyn") has become famous for being the ex-fiance of Antoine Walker, but made more of an impact on the show by being a "THUG among women" (as Iyanla Vanzant so eloquently put it). She has been seen throwing drinks, bottles, and expletives at many of her fellow cast mates. Many of the buzz worthy moments from the show involve her in an altercation with either Tami, Jennifer, Meka, etc.

Not to mention the fact that Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson is one of the most outspoken & media hungry players to EVER play in the NFL. Whether at press conferences, on Dancing With the Stars, during elaborate touchdown celebrations, or even appearing on Basketball Wives or The Game, he has always been starving for attention. Why do you think he legally changed his name to "Ochocinco"? He also had a dating show that was on the SAME network as Evelyn's show (Vh1) where he took 64 girls & put them in a bracket like the NCAA tournament (he also had a sports show w/ Terrell Owens).

After the altercation, Evelyn was seen on several media outlets getting her side of the story out. She even appeared on OWN's new show, Iyanla: Fix My Life, which brought ratings records to the network. If you watch Basketball Wives, you know that she has "daddy issue" that she discussed on the show and that Iyanla brought up as well. She discussed her past relationships and how she was willing to put up with anything to feel loved.

My question is: Was this KARMA for Evelyn? It's like she's getting a taste of her own medicine after treating people like that on her show. Even her 10+-year relationship with cast mate Jennifer Williams became strained after Williams gave her opinion on her relationship with Johnson.

She said that when she found the receipt for the condoms and confronted him, he head butted her and that was the last straw. However, it's hard to make the argument that you're upset that he bought condoms when you told him to in lieu of cheating on you and not telling you (see video below).

Justice Deprived For An Innocent Child

Casey Anthony acquitted of the murder of her daughter, Caylee. 

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm NOT a lawyer and was not following the case very closely. I'm just familiar enough with the situation to have formed an opinion on it. That being said...

This was a sad case that has come to an even more sad conclusion. I was surprised when it was announced that the jury had come back with a verdict so quickly, but I figured that when everyone KNOWS the answer then there wasn't much to talk about. My surprise quickly turned to SHOCK when the verdict was read...NOT GUILTY.

Charge after charge upheld this verdict, except for the four counts of lying to the police, which served as my DUH!!!!! moment in the whole thing. How could you say that she lied to the police but did NOT commit murder? We KNOW that she lied to the police when she said that she didn't kill her daughter Caylee.

This entire case really hurt my heart. I understand if you were a young mother and could not handle raising your child, but I just don't understand how any mother could KNOW her child was "missing" and be partying instead of searching day & night to find them. I know that she was proven innocent (though guilty in the court of public opinion) but if you can't deal with the responsibility, but there are so many options other that killing your child. Adoption, foster care, other family or friends...SOMEONE else in this world could have loved this precious little girl if you didn't. Especially with all of the people who want children but can't have them...

RIP Caylee Anthony (August 9, 2005-June 16, 2008)

There was a LOT of comparison between Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson's acquittal of murder in 1995 and at first I thought it was similar, but I think that there will be a special place in hell for what Casey Anthony did (or "didn't do" since she was acquitted). Also, there was talk about how if Casey Anthony were black that the verdict would have been different.

While I did think this at first, I will not play the race card on this one. All I can say is that no matter what we believe, only she & God know what happened to Caylee and she has the rest of her life to deal with this. Although we think that the verdict was wrong and a crude misuse of justice, God will be the only one that she will have to answer to.