Angela Simmons revealed she discovered her son learned about his father’s murder on the internet.
Simmons’ former fiancé, Sutton Tennyson, died in 2018 after being shot outside of his Atlanta home. They welcomed their son Sutton Joseph Jr. in September 2016 but split in December 2017.
During a recent appearance on the “Baby This is Keke Palmer” podcast, Simmons recalled receiving a call informing her that her eight-year-old son was asking about his father’s death.
“He gets on the phone with me and he’s bawling and he’s like ‘I don’t know why he’s not here, but why would somebody shoot him?’” Angela told Palmer.
The following day, Simmons was horrified to learn that her son had been searching for information about his father online. “Someone murdered him?” the little boy asked.
Simmons urged her son not to research his father’s death. “I just hated that the internet told my son before I could tell him,” she added. “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 at three years old, her son began questioning what happened to his father. She told him that “a bad guy did something bad to him,” but the questions continued.
Angela Simmons discussed telling her son that his father had died during an episode of Growing Up Hip Hop in 2020. She showed him photos of Tennyson after the little boy began talking about his father. He then asked, “Is he alive?’ ”
Simmons was thrown by the question but confirmed to her son that his dad was not alive. Simmons said the toddler “laid his head in my chest and told me he was sad.”