Tyrese continues to be transparent about his mental health struggles, including an incident where he falsely claimed Will Smith helped him with money.
The “Sweet Lady” singer sat down with Sway, revealing that Smith didn’t give him $5 million to help with his nasty custody battle in 2017. If you recall, Tyrese took to Instagram to inform his followers that his “brother” and “sister,” Jada Pinkett-Smith, sent him the funds.
“The Smiths and their whole family has always shown up for The Gibson’s,” he wrote at the time.
The couple immediately denied the claims and expressed concern for Tyrese’s well-being. Speaking with Sway, the 44-year-old revealed a bad reaction to the depression medication, Rexulti. This caused him to make the claims, along with other disturbing behaviors. The “Fast & Furious” star confirmed that he never spoke with Smith at any point.
Tyrese was prescribed the medication after losing custody of his now 15-year-old daughter Shayla. His ex-wife, Norma Gibson, was granted full custody in late 2017 after he was accused of physically abusing the child. The case against Tyrese was eventually dropped, but the damage was already done. Being away from his daughter for 100 days left him in a dark space. So when he sought help from a psychiatrist, the meds were prescribed to help him cope. Unfortunately, it had adverse effects, which led him to have several public meltdowns.
“I never talked to Will Smith, and I still haven’t recovered from the damage that I did to him and his family. They didn’t deserve them phone calls,” he told Sway.
In the open conversation, he also touched on his most recent split from Samantha Lee, who is also the mother of his four-year-old daughter Soraya. Though the two announced their divorce in December 2020, he says he still struggles with the break-up because he was never given a real reason for it.
In recent weeks, Tyrese has hinted at being more open and telling his truth through new music and interviews. His forthcoming album, “Beautiful Pain,” is set to dive even further into the relationship with Lee and his previous heartbreaks.
