Angela Simmons has spent most of her adult life in the reality TV spotlight, drawing a lot of interest in her personal life. Despite numerous red flags in her relationships, she seems to carry on unfazed. Her high-profile romance with Bow Wow ended when she wouldn’t give up the drawls. Her ex-boyfriend, skateboarder Terry “TK” Kennedy, faced first-degree murder charges until his acquittal in December 2022. Relationships with rapper Oscar “Skills” Salinas, former NFL player Julius Peppers, Romeo Miller, Knowledge Kati, and Ralph Lauren Polo model Morgan O’Connor also fizzled out.
Then came Mario Sentell Giden Mims, better known as Memphis rapper Yo Gotti, who took a unique approach to win her over by name-dropping her in one of his hit songs. When that didn’t work, he showed remarkable patience to win the woman of his dreams.
In October 2015, Yo Gotti released “Down in the DM,” where he rapped about his crush on Angela. Fans eagerly hoped they’d become a couple. However, in a December 2015 radio interview, Angela, while flattered and acknowledging Gotti as a nice guy, clarified they weren’t together. Later that month, she invited him to the launch party of her designer label, Foofi and Bella. They posed for photos, and Gotti sent her flowers the next day to congratulate her on her new venture. But that was the extent of their interaction.
In 2016, Angela once again clarified on The Breakfast Club that while Gotti was a nice guy, they weren’t dating. During the interview, the conversation shifted to her personal life. When Charlemagne suggested a man might trap her by getting her pregnant, Angela confidently responded that it wouldn’t happen because she was saving herself for marriage. Although she didn’t share much more, Gotti gave more details in a February 2016 interview on Hot 97. He described Angela as cool but admitted their relationship never went to the level he wanted. He mentioned sending her flowers and gifts but said he never had the chance to take her on a proper date.
Gotti might not have been too focused on Angela because he had someone else in his life. He revealed in the interview that he had given one of his children’s mothers $100,000 for Valentine’s Day because she had always been loyal to him.
When asked why things didn’t work out with his child’s mother, Gotti explained that they had a mutual understanding and took care of each other, hinting that their relationship might still be ongoing.
In April 2016, Angela announced her engagement but didn’t reveal who her fiancé was. After the news broke, a social media user humorously photoshopped Gotti’s face onto the famous Michael Jordan crying meme, which Gotti found hilarious and reposted online. He also unfollowed Angela on Instagram but clarified to PST Network that he had unfollowed everyone a month before her engagement was announced.
A month later, Angela revealed she was expecting a baby. Some people were disappointed that she hadn’t kept her promise to wait until marriage, while others were concerned about her fiancé, Sutton Tennyson, whose criminal past was widely discussed on social media. Even her uncle, Russell Simmons, expressed concern during an episode of “Growing Up Hip Hop,” questioning Angela about Sutton’s history. Angela defended him, saying he had turned his life around and was now a real estate investor. Despite announcing her baby was due in October, she gave birth to their son a month early, in September 2016.
It didn’t take long for gossip blogs to start buzzing that Sutton was cheating on Angela. Despite their issues, Angela told E! News in November 2016 that they had set a wedding date for the summer of 2017. But the summer came and went without a wedding. Then, in October, Gotti released a song with Chris Brown called “Save It For Me,” making it clear he wasn’t over Angela. In the song, he raps, “Pass my number to Angela, I thought I had her cuffed or married and made me mad. I respected I’m moving on, but the truth is I want her bad. Maybe me saying her name made him move faster. Maybe me being a G was kind of bad for her. But me being a G, I was glad for her. My baby mama was pissed, I ain’t heard the last from her.”
Not only was Gotti upset that Angela chose another man, but he also hinted that his children’s mother was still in the picture and wasn’t happy about his feelings for Angela. By December 2017, Angela announced that she and Sutton had split. So, was she finally free to date Gotti? Not quite.
In January 2018, Angela was seen courtside at several Toronto Raptors games, with sources suggesting she had a fling with Serge Ibaka. But whatever they had going on didn’t last, and then tragedy struck.
“Atlanta police were called to Jewel Drive just before 5 PM this evening. A man was found dead in the area with apparent gunshot wounds. No word tonight on who pulled the trigger.”
In November 2018, Angela’s ex-fiancé Sutton was tragically killed in a shooting outside his garage in Southwest Atlanta. Sutton got into an argument with Michael Williams, who ended up shooting him 13 times, leading to Sutton’s death at 37. Angela shared her grief on Instagram, posting a photo of herself, Sutton, and their two-year-old son with the caption, “Thank you for leaving behind my greatest gift.” At Michael’s sentencing hearing, Angela tearfully expressed how hard it was knowing Sutton would never see their son grow up and how their son would never know his father. Michael was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years for weapon possession as a convicted felon, with parole eligibility after 30 years.
Despite the heartache, Angela continued to navigate the dating world, giving everyone but Gotti a chance. In August 2020, she made her relationship with boxer Daniel Jacobs public. Meanwhile, Gotti, still interested in Angela, started following her on Instagram again, even calling her perfect on one of her posts. But Angela was focused on Daniel, so Gotti moved on and began flirting with Yaya, who had previously dated boxers Floyd Mayweather and Gervonta Davis. Their relationship took off, with romantic getaways to Mexico, though some people online reminded Yaya of Gotti’s crush on Angela. Yaya dismissed it, saying Gotti had moved on.
However, love has its own plans. Despite Gotti’s efforts with Yaya, their relationship ended. By January 2021, it seemed things were over between Angela and Daniel as well, with Angela deleting all photos of him from her Instagram. This seemed to pave the way for Gotti and Angela. In September 2022, seven years after Gotti first expressed interest in her, they were spotted together at a club, with Angela singing along to his song “Down in the DM.” They traveled to Dubai, Paris, and New York, celebrating Angela’s 35th birthday in September 2022 and attending Gotti’s mom’s birthday party in November.
On December 31, 2022, Angela and Gotti made their relationship Instagram official. Angela archived all her previous Instagram images and posted two new photos with Gotti, one captioned, “You are all I need and more.” Gotti also cleared his posts and shared a photo of them in a car and a video of Angela dressed up for New Year’s Eve, confirming their relationship to the world.
We’re not sure what Gotti did to finally win her over, or if Angela just got tired and decided to give him a chance. One thing’s for sure, though: after all this time of him pining for her, he better not mess it up. Are you surprised Angela finally gave Gotti a chance? Let us know in the comments below!