Erica Mena shared her elation about sharing child expenses with her ex-husband, rapper and reality television personality Safaree Samuels, in a new Instagram post.
The ex-spouses were married from 2019 to 2022 and share two children: a 5-year-old daughter, Safire, and a 4-year-old son, Legend. The actress and former Love and Hip Hop star also has a 17-year-old son, King, from a previous relationship.
As seen on the VH1 reality show, Mena and Samuels had a contentious split, with Safaree once releasing surveillance footage of Mena assaulting him in front of their children in 2024.
While Mena might not be on the best terms with Safaree, on Tuesday (Jan. 13), she revealed to her Instagram followers that she concluded a legal battle with her ex-husband over the financial care of their children.
"For 2½ years and counting - I’ve endured malicious filings, unnecessary legal attacks and intentional financial pressure, all while being the only consistent present parent for my two youngest children," Mena captioned the post, which showed her posing beside her lawyer, Lisa Weber.
Mena said she was "the one handling medical care, education, childcare and the everyday costs of raising two growing children" since they were born.
"Yesterday wasn’t about revenge. It was about receipts, facts and accountability," she continued.
"After years of intentional hardship and financial burden placed on me, I finally stood up for the expenses I’ve carried alone ... medical, childcare, education," Mena wrote. "While parenting full-time and filling in where effort, presence and responsibility are by choice repeatedly consistently absent."
The reality television star added that wanting to split financial care shouldn't be a burden but that she was asking "for what's right."
"Children have two parents. Even when only one consistently shows up," Mena added before thanking Weber.
Elsewhere, Mena shared that Safaree has allegedly pursued "an ongoing attempt to drastically reduce child support."
"It’s easy to underestimate the cost of children you don’t actively raise, especially while always publicly flaunting luxury," she wrote. "But children don’t live off appearances. They live off stability, care and responsibility."
In December, Mena reacted to Safaree's appearance on Keyshia Ka'oir's podcast where he said that he was in an "unstable situation" with his ex-wife. Mena responded by saying Safaree hadn't seen their children in six months.
