Who is Amanza’s Ex – Selling Sunset
Who is Amanza’s ex?
Selling Sunset star Amanza Smith has a stunning backstory with her troubled ex-husband, including mental health issues and a missing person’s case. Here’s what you need to know as the new season launches on Netflix.
Who is Amanza’s Ex?
Fans of the popular streaming series met Amanza Smith on Season 2. At a glance, it seems like she has everything. She’s gorgeous – she’s got a thriving career and two beautiful children.
But when the cameras followed Amanza home, they found strife in her life and a backstory showing just how hard she’s worked to make something of herself. She grew up in Indiana, near her Selling Sunset co-star Mary Fitzgerald.
The two have been friends for nearly two decades. She said she was raised by her best friend’s (Jamie Ranah) mom. She calls Shirley Ranah her “angel mother” that raised her and credited her as her role model.
Amanza Smith went from small modeling gigs to a network break as a briefcase model on Deal or No Deal. A common question is about Amanza’s heritage — her father is half Nigerian, and her mother is white.
As for her ex-husband, he’s a famous name in his own right. His name is Ralph Smith, and he was an NFL player. They share two children. Their daughter Noah was born in 2009. Then, they married in 2010 in her home state of Indiana.
Their son, Braker Davis Brown, was born in 2011. They split the following year, in 2012. Then, Amanza dated Taye Diggs from 2014 to 2018. So, the answers to who is Amanza’s ex has a few answers — Ralph Smith and actor Taye Diggs are two.
Plus, back in the day before Diggs or Smith, she dated NSYNC singer JC Chavez at the height of the band’s fame. And she dated Danny O’Donoghue, lead singer of The Script right after her divorce.
Selling Sunset Star Said Ralph Smith Didn’t Pay Child Support
Amanza Smith joined the Selling Sunset cast on season 2 as an interior designer. She was first seen working for The Oppenheim Group as a home stager and designer. She’s The O Group’s “in-house interior design expert”.
Then, we saw her BFF Mary encourage her to try selling homes too. That was a point of stress for Amanza as a single mom. Plus, she revealed Ralph Smith wasn’t paying child support and had cut off contact with their children.
They had a 50/50 custody split. And when she’d signed the deal for Selling Sunset, she and Ralph alternated weeks with their kids. So, she thought she had room for it in her life. Then, he dropped out of their lives while the cameras were rolling.
So, Amanza had to do all the heavy lifting — caring for their children while working and filming and starting a new career. When she stressed about struggling to sell her first property, her children encouraged her and told her they believed in her.
They told her “we believe in you… we know you can sell a house”. During his NFL career, Ralph played for the New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals. Amanza said he depleted his earnings but also his retirement savings.
On August 26, 2019, Ralph dropped Noah and Braker at school, and that’s the last time Amanza saw her ex. Then, on September 1, 2019, Ralph Smith emailed Amanza telling her that his situation was “not good”.
He said he “can’t financially take care of the children” and revealed when he last had the kids — they slept in his car since he’d lost his home. He said it’s “not safe” for the kids to be with him.
Is Amanza Smith’s Ex-Husband Still Missing — Selling Sunset Update
After two months of no contact, Amanza Smith filed a missing person report. However, police refused to pursue it since there was no evidence of foul play. Plus, his email implied he was cutting off contact.
She revealed Ralph’s family blocked her requests for info. Amanza said he’s not contacted past NFL teammates either. A month after he went missing, he signed papers relinquishing parental rights.
She didn’t know that until her private investigator located the court filing. In it, Ralph Smith said his body was “broken down” from football. He said constant pain led to depression.
Amanza put their children in therapy to deal with sadness and anger over his abandonment. She filed papers last year for full custody. Even though he’s been MIA for three years, she’s certain he’s alive.
She said if it “was otherwise” they’d know. The Selling Sunset beauty said the situation is worse for the kids because his family cut them all out of their lives too.
Amanza’s ex is alive but living under the radar, she believes. She says he submitted a change of address to the courts listing a UPS store box. Ralph Smith’s ex said she thought he might be suffering from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) from NFL concussions.
He disappeared while she was filming Season 2 of the series. Amanza’s ex remains “missing” but not officially. She says if he comes back into their lives, she will protect her children because this “devastated” them.
She says she won’t deny him visitation but wants to make sure he won’t abandon them again. You can see the drama with Amanza’s ex in Seasons 2-5 of the show.
Selling Sunset streams on Netflix. Five seasons are available as of April 22, 2022. Check Soap Dirt for more reality TV news.