- ♪ Bring your friends ♪
\h\h\h\h- I reached out to a few of my friends,
and I told them
that we were going to go \h\hon a couples retreat.
- You made it!
- Let’s do it. Yes.
- Couples that get the answer \hwrong have to take a shot.
- Yeah!
- Is this game rigged?
\h\hHow the couple that [inaudible] divorcing--
how they winning?
- Y’all killed this game.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- We don’t have the traditional relationship.
\hWhen we’re together, adding a side bitch here and there.
\h- The contract is, we do threesomes once in a while.
\h- Your definition of once in a while is kind of off.
- As much as I want this \h\h\h\hto be a vacation,
I have a relationship \hlife coach coming.
- Hi.
I want you to think about, \h\h\h\hwhere are you now?
Where do you want to be?
- Here, I’m gonna decide whether I’m gonna go back
to being single
or I’m gonna stay \ha married man.
- And we’ve been in a place
where [bleep] was just \h\h\h\h\h\h[bleep] up.
- Yeah.
You know, some people \h\hcall it cheating.
- I found out about our divorce \h\h\h\h\h\h\hon social media.
- What the [bleep] \ham I doing here?
\h\h- We’re always fighting. We’re never on the same page.
- Where’d the love come from? \h\h\h\h\h\hCould it be lust?
- No. We don’t have sex.
- Ray J, what do you want? \h\h- Princess to be happy.
- Do you believe him?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- No. - [bleep] this couples retreat.
[Mary J. Blige’s "Real Love"]
- ♪ Ooh ♪
[upbeat R&B music]
♪ Ah ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ ♪
- Ray J, what do you want?
- Feel like all he cares about is, like, money.
- Do you realize she doesn't believe you?
- It is still only day one,
and we're in the middle of this game with AJ,
and she's not messing around.
♪ ♪
- This is such BS.
He can't even answer the question,
and he's deflecting it on me.
What do you want?
I want to know the answer to that too.
Like, we're adults. Just keep it real.
- Ray.
Ray, where you going?
- I could say a lot of [bleep] about Princess right now.
[whispering] I found lingerie in her purse.
But I would never do that. That's my wife.
Of course, she does the opposite
and calls me out publicly.
- I just want to make sure you all right, bro.
- She not telling the real story.
There's too much pressure, man. Like, this ain't fun.
She told everybody that I filed for divorce,
and I didn't tell her.
That's the problem.
'Cause everybody looking like,
"Damn, he didn't even tell her?"
- Sometimes we need to walk away
and just breathe a little bit.
Definitely need a minute
to calm down, you know what I'm saying?
- Like, I ain't know I was gonna
have to be on blast like this.
This [bleep] is-- I'm on blast, fam.
There's certain women that want to just see you ruined,
where your name is horrible.
And I just--I'm feeling like
Princess is just one of them people.
- I just don't understand.
Like, if you love somebody, and you have, like,
this beautiful family, why is that not enough?
[somber music]
- It doesn't necessarily mean that it's not.
You know, it's just that he's got
to get to what he wants,
which is why I'm asking that question.
- That's all he cares about... - You know what I mean?
- Is what he wants and how he feels.
- So what has you together, even to this degree?
- Our kids.
- Yeah, but you guys can coparent
and not have to try to be together.
Some people are better as parents than together.
- I've just convinced myself that I don't care anymore.
- But you do. Look at you.
- But I do. - I know.
- I had bet money that AJ was gonna make somebody cry.
- That's tough. - What I want to know, right?
'Cause I don't know how many people ever had a threesome.
- Oh, God.
- Like, so it has to be, like,
somebody different each time?
- I prefer that,
because there's no emotional attachment.
Only when we're together, it's cool.
But then, like, when he goes out on the road sometimes
and brings, like, the same bitch, I'm like,
"What you doing with the same bitch?"
- Okay. - You know?
'Cause that's another relationship.
- It is.
- How do you feel about Michael Blackson advice
about the side chicks?
- You want to stay alive? - There you have it.
Y'all poisoning my baby. Like, come on.
- Oh, please. [laughter]
- Don't get no ideas now, you know?
- She not keeping it 100, fam.
- But you got a lot
that you gotta say, though, Ray.
- I don't like talking in front of every---
I can't do that [bleep].
Y'all go in for me. That's it.
- I'm not sure what's going on with my boy Ray J.
He stomp off.
I'm like, dog, we have, like, seven more days here.
Figure it out, okay?
- So I think the tears are you releasing
the just dealing with it, settling for it.
They're cleansing tears.
So let's get you some peace.
Come on.
- Well, guess I'm doing this alone.
- Where's Ray J? - He's still walking.
He need to blow off steam.
- He okay? - Yeah, he's just hot.
- Wow. I mean, I love that you guys felt comfortable
enough to be so honest.
The bottom line is, we all here to get better.
Because of stuff like this,
I designed a game, and it's called Stuck.
I designed this little game
because I feel like, in order for us to really heal,
we've got to look at where things are broken
in order for us to really dive in to fix them.
The whole point of this game
is to show where in your life you're getting stuck
and where you've actually done the work to move forward.
So I want everybody to move back, back towards the table.
And I am going to call out categories.
And if the category pertains to you, you stay still.
You gotta stay still and admit that you're stuck.
If the category does not pertain to you,
you take a step forward.
This game, it's a great visualization.
- It's like Red Light, Green Light.
- Think about it: if you're stuck,
you're gonna be at the back of the line.
We good?
- Yeah. - Immaturity.
You stay if that's part of your life.
- You better stay your ass put.
- [laughs]
- He's a [bleep] comedian.
You better believe his ass is immature.
- A lack of romance. Stay where you are.
- Lack of romance?
- I'm not moving. I'm not--I'm stuck.
Our romance is, like, since we said "I do,"
like..."Hey."
Yeah. Yeah.
- Insecurities.
There's no insecurities, take a step forward.
How we doing? You good?
- I think he's lying.
- I'm not insecure about a damn--
I think I'm the cutest man on Earth.
[laughter]
- What I'm insecure about? Tell me.
- How we doing over here?
- I ain't insecure.
- Mendeecees stepping forward
saying insecurity doesn't play a role
in our relationship is...
[coughing] [bleep].
Because that's all I got for five years.
"Hey, babe. How you doing?
Notice you were out last night."
"Hey babe. How you doing?
"Oh, I see you put on lipstick yesterday.
What was that for?"
You stepping forward?
Oh, mm-kay.
- My husband walked out before the game even started.
I'm literally the most stuck person here.
- What about infidelity?
If the category does not pertain to you,
you take a step forward.
You stay if that's part of your life.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- So Kirk stepped forward,
and I'm the only one stuck on the infidelity issue.
Damn.
Don't be so jolly joy to act like
[bleep] is just gravy, bro.
You just need to make sure I'm good, okay?
- Mistrust.
- And I guess I'm stuck on mistrust too.
♪ ♪
- By the looks of this,
I mean, I think you kind of can see
where we have to do the work, you feel me?
So with that,
in order for us to really heal and move forward,
we gotta go a little deeper.
So...
- I was just gonna say, we didn't go deep yet?
- Oh, no. We didn't go deep yet.
[laughs]
We're just scratching the surface, y'all.
Tomorrow's a whole nother plan.
I'm a strong believer that a relationship is only
as strong as the independent people in them.
And so I wanted to see where everybody was
possibly not whole in the union as well as independently.
Starting tomorrow, I think we have to work on forgiveness.
I think we have to work on new directions.
We have to work on new communication.
There's a lot of work to do.
Can't wait to see you at our next elevation session.
- At this point, we have nothing to lose.
- ♪ You got me ♪
♪ Got me doing things for you ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm trying to get you comfortable now ♪
- Well, tonight was crazy.
- The exercise we did, what did you think?
- I like how it showed how everybody
was in different places,
and that gave you something you could work on.
Looking around at the couples, though, you like, damn.
Like, I feel sorry for them.
- Nobody wants to continue to go back
into the dark spot of their relationship.
But it's good to know you over it.
And I'm the only one stuck on the infidelity issue.
Move past it, running away from it,
and ain't gonna do this [bleep] again.
- I felt so awkward about Kirk and Rasheeda.
Because when we got ready to do the game,
shoot, she said, "Infidelity," everybody's face was like--
[both laugh]
[dramatic music]
- Started crying.
I just don't understand how this can get better.
We're not willing to meet in the middle somehow.
♪ ♪
- I said some things that were not right,
and I apologize to y'all.
Forgive me.
And continue to pray for me.
- I don't know.
I just feel like
this whole thing is just getting a little heavy.
- It felt great to get exonerated for a crime
that you had nothing to do with.
- You know, you being in prison,
was there, like, a lot of friction?
- I could see her on social media on every single day.
I was getting, like, growing resentment towards that.
- Like I said, his definition of once in a while
turned into every time we saw each other.
- It wasn't just for me.
Her biggest fantasy is
watching me [bleep] another woman.
- You got to stop walking away
in the middle of a conversation.
That's the childish [bleep], Ray J.
- I feel like I'm talking to Princess right now.
- Wow. - Is it possible
that there's a way to integrate some husband and wife time?
- We're stuck here. - Is it stuck?
[Shawn Mendes’ "Wonder"]
[soft pop music]
- ♪ I wonder ♪
♪ If I’m being real ♪
\h\h\h♪ Do I speak my truth or do I filter how I feel? ♪
♪ I wonder ♪
- "Describe the moment \h\h\h\h\hyou realized
I was in love with you."
- ♪ Why I’m so afraid ♪
♪ Of saying something wrong ♪
♪ I never said I was a saint ♪
♪ I wonder ♪
- I knew you loved me...
\h\h\h\h- We were talking about having to leave the next day...
\h\h\h\h- When you was like, "You don’t have to go home."
- You wouldn’t let me \h\h\h\h\hgo easily.
- "When was the last time
\hI made you feel secure as a man?"
♪ ♪
- You do that every day, \h\h\h\h\h\hwhen you go,
"Ooh, babe, that’s my king.
That’s my husband. \h\hThat’s my man."
- You trust in me. \h\hBelieve in me.
\h\h\h\h- I do. - This morning.
You went and got my breakfast \h\hand gave it to me in bed.
- I don’t know, I’ve been naked \h\hand afraid for a long time.
- Yeah, we both know \h\h\hyou been naked.
- ♪ Wonder what it’s like ♪
♪ To be loved by you ♪
[tense music]
- So I’m in the bathroom.
I hate talking about anything serious with Michael around,
\hbecause he always makes a joke out of everything.
- I picked this because it has \ha little cheetah on the back.
\h\h\hI don’t know how to be faithful,
\h\h\h\hso that’s why she got the cheetah.
- Oh, my God. \h[laughter]
- He always finds a joke out of it.
And it frustrates me
\h\h\h\h\hbecause I feel like he’s not taking me seriously.
- There’s some deep, \h\h\h\h\hdark demons
in some of these relationships.
- I think my situation \h\h\h\h\hreally is...
like...unfixable.
- I think that our relationship \h\h\h\h\hstill has struggles.
\h\h\h\hHow do we overcome our struggles in our relationship,
or in my relationship?
It’s just, we haven’t \h\heven got started.
We haven’t even gotten past, \hyou know, the 50-yard line
to get to the other side.
[heavy hip-hop music]
♪ ♪
- How does this water feel?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hIt cold! - Oh, so freaking good.
- I’m hoping this day will be \h\h\h\h\ha little more chill
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hthan yesterday, because last night got intense.
\h\hI’m a little worried about Ray J and Princess,
since he stormed off \h\h\h\h\hlast night.
But one thing for sure, I’m not \h\hgiving up on them just yet.
We invited all these couples,
and I really believe \h\h\hin all of them.
\hHoney, were you drunk last night?
- Oh, my God. No.
I was--pick another word. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h- [laughs]
- I was definitely drunk,
but then whatever \his after that.
- It was a little beyond? - A little beyond drunk.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- I was too. I haven’t taken shots in years.
But then to take three shots?
\h- You know, how about-- try taking four or five.
- Ooh, baby.
\h\hSo how you feeling about the trip so far?
- The trip is good. - It’s cute, right?
- It’s very cute.
I didn’t expect the therapy \h\hto come along with it.
\h\h\h\h- I know. - But I need it.
\h\hBecause Raymond and I, we didn’t have a therapist,
because COVID hit.
And it’s like, we haven’t \hreally had a chance to,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know, dive off into his past.
\h\h\h\h\hRaymond is one of the Exonerated Five.
\h\h\h\hIn addition to the growing pains
of our very new marriage,
\h\h\h\h\hhe still has that lingering trauma.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI mean, there are a lot of people
who are wrongfully convicted \h\h\h\h\h\hand incarcerated.
It just brings me to tears.
I can’t imagine the things \h\hthat he’s gone through.
And it has an effect
on our relationship in a lot of aspects.
[upbeat music]
- What’s going on, man?
Hey. How’s everything?
- Everything’s good. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah?
- I’ve been looking forward to meeting up with Raymond,
because he understand life \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hin prison
and also life in the streets.
\h\hThat must have felt great to get exonerated for a crime
\h\h\hthat you had nothing to do with.
\h\h\h\h- Yeah, definitely. How long were you gone for?
- Four years, ten days, \h\h\h\h\hthree hours.
- [laughs]
- Saying goodbye to my kids \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand my wife
was the hardest thing \h\hI ever had to do.
But getting out of prison \h\h\h\h\h\hwas amazing.
\h\h- There he go. - Oh, there he go.
- I ain’t gonna forget \h\h\h\h\habout y’all!
- Baby, you want to stop here?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah. I want to get out of this.
Adjusting back to society \h\h\h\h\h\hwas difficult.
\h\h\hEvery day is just something new.
- You know that when we come \h\h\h\h\h\h\hout of prison,
and you have this gap \h\h\h\hthat’s gone,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou come back with these characteristics.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Right. - Seems normal to you,
but to regular people, \h\h\h\h\h\hit’s like,
\h\h"Whoa, why does he move like that?"
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Right. - So she gets to see it.
And then she can understand.
\h\h\hYou know, it’s a form of being institutionalized.
- But I don’t know if Raymond \h\h\h\h\h\h\hwas like this.
\h\hMendeecees would--like, in the middle of his sleep,
he would just be jumping \h\h\h\h\h\hall the time.
- Try being awake at 2:00 \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hand 4:00.
I had to ask him--I’m like, \h\h\h\h\h"Is it the past?
Is it nightmares? Is it me?"
- That’s the same thing I did. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah.
- I’m like, "Mendeecees, \h\h\his everything okay?
Like, what are you \hdreaming about?"
- Yep.
\h\h- Mendeecees went away right after we got married.
And I had to figure out
how to be a single mother \h\h\h\h\h\hof two babies.
- Mendeecees.
Hey, have a seat.
So we almost there.
\hI’m gonna call you as much as possible.
I love you, a’ight?
- I love you too.
\h\h\h- How did that, like-- you know, you being married,
\hlike, was there, like, a lot of friction? Like--
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah. It was a lot of friction,
because it was one point where \hI was getting a lot of mail,
but not from her.
- Not from her.
- But I had access \hto the internet.
- Mm-hmm. - Right?
I see people at the computers \h\h\h\h\hgetting, you know,
"Good morning," "Good nights,"
and "How was your day?"
I understand that she was busy.
- Yeah. She working. \h\h\h\h\h\h- Right.
\h\h\h\hBut I could see her on social media every single day.
all: Hey! Hey!
\h\h\h"Yo, you got time to post these pictures."
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- [laughs] But you ain’t got time--
- "But you ain’t got time \h\hto send me an email?"
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah. - You know what I’m saying?
- No, I get that.
- So I was laying in my bunk. \h\h\h\h\h\hI’m like, a’ight.
[somber music]
I was getting, like, growing \h\hresentment towards that.
\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah. - Soon I was like,
\h\h\h\h\h"Yo, I ain’t gonna ask you again for an email."
\h\h\h\h\h\h- No, I understand. I was definitely in that place.
Everything was about having that defense.
\hBut then you have to get to a point of when you say,
\h\h\h\h\h\h"You know what, I gotta let that stuff go."
- Right.
- I’ve been fortunate \h\h\hto have a wife
that really teach me \h\h\h\hsome things.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hWhen it comes to my wife Deelishis, like,
\h\hshe taught me a lot about how to be married
and how to live in the moment,
and how not to let my prison experience dictate my life.
- Yo, that’s so crazy \hthat you say that,
because when my wife \hdo the same thing,
like, I feel like a kid. \h\h\h- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- Like, you know what I’m saying?
And it feel like it \h\htook my macho--
it took everything away from me
\h\h\h\h\h\hto then be like, "You know what, let me start
"letting me guard down \hand let her teach me.
What the hell? [bleep] it." \hYou know what I’m saying?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- [laughs] - Like, it’s a mental thing.
- Yeah. And we from Harlem. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah.
- So we--it’s like ten times.
When I come out, watch how \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI’ma do it.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Right. - Like I said, you know,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hit’s a form of being institutionalized.
- But it’s a healing process. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yeah.
- What are we doing today? - AJ has something planned.
\h\hAnd even though I brought her here,
I’ve been trying to figure it out.
\h\h\h\h\hShe’s like, "This is for you too.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hYou don’t get to know anything else."
\h\h\h\h\h- Oh, God. I do not believe you.
\h- I don’t know! I’m telling you.
\h\h\h\h\h\hIf I knew, I would have told you.
I have no idea.
- "If for some reason \h\hI lost my memory,
\h\h\hwhat is the first thing you would tell me about us?"
[soft music]
- I would remind you that you have a big [bleep], Michael.
[laughs]
- I would tell you, I’m Ray J. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- [laughs]
- [bleep], you lose your memory \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hall the time.
- My [bleep] already bad. \h\h\h\h\h\h[both laugh]
- These are your kids.
- Probably would do \h\hsomething silly
like give you some weed.
\h\h\h\hAnd hope it cure you like it did your grandmother.
\h- And together, we’re one family.
\h\h- I would, like, gain your trust back,
like, little by little.
\h\hYou might be like, "Who the hell are you?
Get off of me."
- Nah, that’s only \h\hin the movies.
[both laugh]
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- So the activity tonight \h\h\his the Ring of Fire.
I want to know where they are \h\h\hin their relationship.
\h\h\h\hIs it good? Is it bad? Are they being honest with me?
Are they being honest \h\h\hwith each other?
\h\h\h\h\hI need to see what’s really going on.
♪ ♪
Hey.
- I wanted to talk to AJ
about what happened \h\h\h\hlast night,
\h\h\h\hbecause it was a lot of people around,
\h\hand I felt like this was more of a personal situation.
So to have a one-on-one \h\hwith AJ, I thought,
would be the right thing \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto do,
\h\h\hso I could set the record straight.
What you getting ready for? \h\h\hSome kind of ritual?
\h- More like a love talk. - I can’t do no love talk.
- You can always do \h\h\ha love talk.
Sit here.
\h\h\h\h\hYou can do a whole lot of stuff.
Can I ask some question?
\h\h\h\hAnd just know that, before I even say anything,
\h\hI’m genuinely interested and I genuinely want to help.
- I had a problem with her
and how she started \h\hthat story off.
She said, "He filed for divorce
and didn’t even tell me."
Here’s the real story.
\hShe filed for divorce and she didn’t tell me.
Now, she didn’t tell you that.
- I don’t care who filed. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Listen.
- What I care about is-- \h\h\h- I never--listen,
\hI don’t give a [bleep] about what nobody thinks.
\h\h\h\h\h\hThat’s the only way I’ve ever been able to survive.
But that’s not what this.
It’s my woman
\htrying to sabotage me with false information.
- So why are you with her?
That sounds, like, toxic \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor me.
\h\h\h- Thank you. - What--thank what?
\h\h\h- What you just answered my question.
- Sit down.
\h- I need no other--I need nothing else to talk about.
- Sit down. We’re not finished.
\h\h\h\h- No. No. No. - Come on. Sit down.
- AJ, that’s it. \h\h\h- Sit down.
- You gave me--
- Please don’t walk \h\h\haway from me.
- It’s plain and simple.
\hYou gave me everything I-- "Then why are you with her?"
\h\h\hYou’re right. Why am I with her?
\h\h\h- Can you sit down and finish talking to me?
- There’s nothing else \h\h\h\hto talk about.
- Well, can it be \han us decision?
- It just--it doesn’t--
\h- Can it be an us decision? Can you sit down and us talk?
Thank you. Thank you.
\hYou got to stop walking away in the middle of conversations.
- No. No. No. No. No. \h\h\hNo. No. No. No.
- That’s the childish [bleep], \h\h\h\h\h\hRay J. You can’t--
- No, it’s not. No, it’s not. \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Yes, it is.
- No, it’s not. \h- Yes, it is.
- I feel like I’m talking \hto Princess right now.
\h\h\h- Do you? - A little bit.
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- Wow. - ’Cause of the "It’s childish.
It’s this. You’re that."
- So is it that you’re talking \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hto Princess,
\h\hor you don’t like to be told the truth?
And see, now you’re getting \h\h\h\h\h\hon your phone.
\h\hYou don’t think that disrespectful?
I refuse to let Ray J get away \h\h\hwith being disrespectful.
I refuse to let him treat me
\h\h\hlike what Princess has suggested he treats her like.
But I’m really excited to see \h\hthe fact that I’m getting
the firsthand experience
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hof what she’s complaining about.
\h\hLevel ten disrespectful on a scale of one to five.
I’m talking to you,
\h\h\hand now you putting your face in your phone?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- I’m sorry, you were saying something?
\h\h\h\h\h- Why can’t I get a one-on-one conversation?
\h\h\h\h\hWhy can’t you say, "AJ, help me. What do I do"?
- This conversation’s over \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hfor me.
- It is? Okay. You called it.
- Can I please leave? \h\h\h\h- Absolutely.
- Okay. Thank you.
♪ ♪
- He’s gotta grow up.
He’s gotta be more respectful.
\hAnd he’s gotta be more of an honest, open person
in any relationship,
whether it’s Princess, his family, or with me.
- Actually, I’m walking away. \h\h\h\h\h- Okay. Same thing.
Mentally, it’s still running.
- You know, you come home.
You want to be intimate \h\h\h\hwith your wife.
You’re rubbing on her back, \h\h\hyou’re touching her,
and she flip over, \h\h"Ah, come on."
It’s like, "I ain’t got time \h\h\h\h\hfor that [bleep]."
[dramatic music]
- It's just like, look, man, if you supposed to be
the life coach, then why ain't you coaching me?
You get what I'm saying?
Why ain't you trying to help me
see through what I'm trying to go through?
If I disrespected you,
it definitely wasn't even close to being my intention to.
Like, if you gonna coach me, help me.
Don't hurt me.
Don't talk down to me
and make me feel like I'm a child.
That's why I don't get--
that's why I don't go to therapy.
'Cause you being biased.
♪ ♪
- Right.
♪ ♪
- Uh-oh, is somebody going home?
This is reminding me of, like, some type of elimination,
or a séance or something.
I mean, there's tiki torches
and fire and two chairs facing each other.
It's, like, what's about to happen?
- I felt like I was about to get burnt.
This fire that's going on,
I think that's where the devil lives.
- I love it. I love it.
Please sit. - Fire everywhere.
I'm like, who are we burning, and why?
- I want to tell you first--
'cause I've been asking you guys to be honest with me,
so I want to be honest with you--
Ray J came
and wanted to talk to me privately.
- Did you know that Ray J came to talk to AJ alone?
- No.
- We got deep. And it was ugly.
He left screaming back at me, saying he was done talking.
And so we just went through that.
- I don't really know what happened,
but just taking a wild guess,
AJ said something that he didn't like...
- That's the childish [bleep], Ray J. You can't--
- No, it's not. No, it's not. - Yes, it is.
- So he just shut down...
- This conversation's over for me.
- Got on his phone,
act like he wasn't listening.
- I'm sorry, you were saying something?
- You know, walked off, and probably said
something disrespectful as he was walking off.
- Running away again. - Actually, I'm walking away.
- If you didn't know before now that I'm here to give you
the real deal, you're gonna learn tonight.
This is all about truth, honesty, breakthrough.
Anybody want to leave?
♪ ♪
- I do. - You want to leave?
- I just can't keep doing this by myself.
- Okay. I respect that.
- Have a good night, everybody.
♪ ♪
There's just no sense of me continuing to do
these exercises by myself.
We came here as a couple.
But I feel like Ray is making it
harder than he needs to
because he's not even making an effort to try.
But am I surprised? No.
- Anybody else?
Let's get to work. Kirk and Rasheeda.
All I'm gonna do is ask some questions,
and guide the conversation, if I have to.
When you're answering, you're talking to each other.
You guys good?
Kirk, when Rasheeda was speaking on wanting
more intimacy and romance beyond just the business,
you kind of sounded like, it is what it is.
- I mean, we here now.
Like, we're gone for the most time
we've ever been gone in years.
Like, we're here. We're stuck here.
- Is it stuck? - Is it stuck?
How annoying is it for your husband to say,
"We stuck here together"?
Like, are we?
You know, it makes me feel like, "Well, okay,
"so if this ain't where you want to be,
then why are we here?"
[solemn music]
- I mean, you know what-- I'm not--
I don't mean it in a bad way.
- Is the time the only thing that you feel like
is blocking the move forward in the relationship
and moving into more personal space than just business?
Is there anything that's a deal-breaker?
What have you been through?
- The world already know.
- What about infidelity?
Did you step together on that? When we played the Stuck game?
- I've had it happen before.
The world know that.
- Tell us about the situation that landed you
to having a baby outside of your marriage.
Can you bring us back to that moment?
- No, I already brought y'all to that moment.
We talked about it. What can I bring you back to?
- It's Kirk's baby.
- Kirk, did you have a baby by this girl?
- Is it a situation where I might
have [bleep] up, in a sense?
Yes.
Did I [bleep] around? Yes.
I wasn't in no relationship.
They ain't been around none of our family.
They ain't been around our kids.
All that [bleep] is all fly.
When you think about me and Rasheeda's past,
people always want to know, "How did this happen?
How did you have a relationship?"
They never talk about the fact
me and Rasheeda were not intimate for over a year.
We were pretty much separated. We were headed to a divorce.
There was, like, nothing left.
So for us to get back together
and be who we are now is a great thing.
But at that moment in time,
Rasheeda was going left and I was going right.
We've been together for a long time.
Like, I have a 15-year run of nothing.
No problems. None. Not one.
I'm not gonna get no credit for that.
And at that point in time,
with what happened with me and Rasheeda,
like I've said a hundred times,
which she can verify, we were in a very weird space.
You know, you come home.
You working. You doing something.
You want to be intimate with your wife.
You're rubbing on her back, you're touching her,
and she flip over, "Ah, come on."
It's like, "Oh. Okay.
I ain't got time for that [bleep]."
So you feel like something must be going on with her.
And that's how I felt. - Which it was.
- So... - What was going on with you?
- I guess I had--I'm not gonna say "I guess I had"--
I had postpartum,
and I was in a space where I wasn't happy with me.
I wasn't--I don't know.
I just did not feel like myself.
There, I mean, he would touch on me and want to,
you know--and no.
It doesn't excuse what you did.
But the fact of the matter was,
I was not being the wife I should have been,
but I was going through something
I had never experienced before.
- So in terms of where we go now--
you've heard each other talk.
Where would you say the work has to happen?
'Cause we keep talking about the time.
- I am not a great person to tell you
how to lay out the future.
Like, I wish-- - Well, you have to though.
You have to be able to design what happens next
for the success of your marriage.
- If we can sit here and freaking lay out
a plan of a new business,
we definitely should be able to lay out a plan on us.
- Amen.
- When he was locked up, I was talking to you every day.
- No, you don't. Now you's lying.
[dramatic music]
- Michael and Rada.
\h\h- No. [laughs]
Five minutes. \h\h\h- Man.
Aw, man.
I gotta be serious now? \h\h\h\h[clears throat]
- No more joking.
- You ready? \h\h\h- Yes.
\h\h\h- I feel like when somebody says
something doesn’t bother them,
and that’s all they talk about,
\hit really means it bothers them.
\h\h\h\hAnd you talk a lot about the side chick thing.
- I agree. Yes.
- Why do you talk about it \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hso much
\h\h\hif it really doesn’t bother you?
- When we had started \h\hour relationship,
\hwe were friends for about a year.
\h\h- With benefits? - A lot of benefits.
- Not until, like, a month \h\h\h\h\h\h\hor two later.
\h\h\h\h- What do you mean? We [bleep] our first night.
- That is not true.
- Not the first night we met,
but the first time we got together...
\h\h\h\h\h- Exactly. - I tore that ass up.
[laughter]
- Michael. Anyway.
Okay, moving forward,
our friendship grew \h\hinto something
that I did not expect.
And when we had gotten into this relationship,
he did specify to me \h\hin the beginning
that he didn’t want to be \h\hwith just one woman.
But I didn’t know it was to that extent, honestly.
- To what extent?
\h- To the extent of him just having bitches over
every freaking week I’m there.
- Okay.
- Michael doesn’t want to have
the occasional side bitch.
It’s constant.
\hIt’s every weekend I’m not at his place,
it’s every weekend I am at his place,
and every weekend in between.
Like I said, his definition \h\h\hof "once in a while"
turned into every time \h\hwe saw each other.
- It wasn’t just for me.
\h\h\hLike, we all did stuff together.
Her biggest fantasy is watching \h\h\hme [bleep] another woman.
[awkward music]
Her favorite Pornhub is called \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h"[bleep] Swap."
\h\h\hThat’s a man [bleep] two women at the same time.
[laughs]
- I’m sorry. I’m sorry. \h\h\h\h\h\h[laughter]
\h\h\h- "[bleep] Swap." Look it up on Pornhub.
- Shut up!
See what happens?
Every time I try to be serious, he just makes a joke out of it.
[laughter]
- And so when did you realize, \h\h\h\h\hin the relationship,
that it was gonna be
more than your definition of every once in a while?
- Not too long ago.
You know, once I noticed that,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hI mean, that’s when we had our breakup.
[dramatic music]
I left, and for me, \h\h\hI felt like--
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hyou know, we’re coming on two years,
\hand I just feel like I needed more substance
than just having
women come here and there,
and having sex
as the number one thing \hin our relationship.
And for me, I made a decision
that I wasn’t gonna come back.
\h\h- And when did you? - Before this happened.
And I told him that I’m willing \h\h\h\h\h\h\hto give it a try.
- So you’re willing \h\h\hto sacrifice
a lot to get what?
\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\hGood sex? What is it that you want?
\h\h\h- We’re here at almost year two.
I need more substance.
And I just want to tighten up \hthis relationship a little.
\h- So do you feel like there’s a discomfort, after two years,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hwithin her, about this relationship?
- I think she agreed on it just to, like, lure me in.
\h\h\hAnd then now that she’s in love,
\h\h\h\h\h\h\hshe wants to, like, end our deal.
- How do you feel about that, Rada?
- No.
I don’t have him in shackles.
\h\h- If she saying I have to cut off all the bitches,
then I’m like--then I’m gonna \hstart lying, it’s cheating,
\h\h\hand that’s what I’m trying to avoid.
- You would say, like, \h\h"You could leave."
That was offensive.
If the roles were reversed, \h\hwould you hold me down?
\h- You know, I don’t know what I would be able to do.
- And that’s a problem.
- Okay.
"When was the last time you considered
ending this relationship, and why didn't you?"
- Let me see. Last time. I don't know.
I can't remember that.
I can't remember ever being there, so...
- I remember a time for you. - When?
- When we were driving to drop you off,
when you had to go turn yourself in.
And you were like,
"You ain't gotta do this, you know."
- I was giving you a way out.
Opening the door and seeing if you gonna walk through it.
[dramatic music]
- Yandy, Mendeecees.
♪ ♪
Y'all ready? Time to get real.
Any insecurities between you two?
- No. - None?
- None.
- Prison
- Is that an insecurity?
- 'Cause I feel like,
when he was locked up, I was locked up.
- Well, you ain't email for two months.
- Yeah, but I was-- - To six months.
- 'Cause I was talking to you every day.
- No, you don't. No--don't do that,
- Every single day. Three times a day.
- Yeah, right. You's lying.
We don't even get that many minutes.
- I spoke to you every day. - No, you did not.
Not every day. - Every single day.
- No, don't overexaggerate. But listen.
- And if I didn't talk to you, it was a problem.
And then it would be, "You know you don't have to do this."
And for me, that felt like--
don't negate what I have been doing.
Don't negate me making sure you and the kids are good.
Don't negate the calls I did pick up.
This isn't the first time
this phone call/email thing has come up.
And I normally just brush it away.
But now, I'm frustrated.
Do you understand what my life was like?
I'm raising two babies. I'm running five companies.
But you want to talk about emails and calls?
Talk about how these bills was gonna get paid.
I don't have time to write emails and letters.
- Do you both hear the discrepancy
in the communication? "I called you."
"But you didn't email." "It was two months."
"It was every night and every morning."
There's a discrepancy.
So to me, it's more than, did you email?
Did you call?
It's, what more did you want
and what more do you want now that you weren't getting
for you to say, "I didn't get it,"
and that's the way it's coming out?
- I was kind of holding resentment
because I said the moment I step out of here,
she gonna be blowing my phone up every five seconds.
So for me, I started to feel like I was put on a shelf.
I wasn't going nowhere, and you'll play with me
when it's time for me to be free.
I wasn't gonna allow no one to treat me any different
than for me being free or me being incarcerated.
Treat me the same. Don't mishandle me like that.
Not when I gave her the opportunity,
"If you ever get tired and this become too much,
then, you know, you--you're free."
I think it would have been selfish of me
to try to hold her in a relationship
that she didn't want to be in.
You know, you free. Anything could happen.
People meet people, fall in love,
and, you know, I didn't want to force
somebody to go through something like that with me.
- The fact that you always-- you always said to me,
"You don't have to do this," that was offensive.
You would say, like, "You could leave."
And it would be the simplest of things,
like I missed your phone call or I didn't pick up
or I didn't email you.
That made me feel like
it wasn't that much of a fight for you.
Like, it was easy to let me go.
Nobody that's your woman
wants to feel like they're easy to get over.
- I mean, if I could deal with my mom
leaving me, and that's the trauma,
I felt like I could deal with anybody leaving me.
- Nobody that's your woman wants to feel like
they're easy to get over.
- I mean, if I could deal with my mom
leaving me, and that's the trauma,
I felt like I could deal with anybody leaving me.
[dramatic music]
- It would be great to be like, "Nah, I got you."
You know what I'm saying?
Like, when you say "for better or worse,"
and when you say--you know, if I'm sick, I go to jail,
I want you to be like, "Nah, I got you.
I know ain't going nowhere."
I want for better or for worse.
- Yeah. That's--I mean-- - That's what I get.
- Yeah, I mean, that's the same thing I signed up for, right?
- Nobody that's your woman
wants to feel like they're easy to get over.
- I think you had a lot of time on your hands.
And I think, with that time,
I think that I did a damn good job.
I say that to you all the time.
Like, if the roles were reversed,
would you hold me down?
♪ ♪
- If the shoe was on the other foot, you know,
I don't know what I would be able to do.
- Hmm. And that's a problem.
So Mendeecees finally admitted
that he doesn't know
if he would have stayed if the roles were reversed.
And that's so hurtful, because people have said to me,
"You doing all this. Would he do that for you?"
And I've always come at it with, "Yeah, he would.
We love each other."
But to hear him sit here in my face
and be like, "I don't know"...
- Listen, I'm telling you the truth.
- Like, that's so unfair.
♪ ♪
- ♪ I feel it right now ♪
- Ah, that too much.
- I want him to naturally take over the situation.
\h\h\h\h- I mean, like, what do you like to do?
- You.
Like a "Sex and the City" \h\h\h\h\h\hMr. Big type.
- Mentality-wise, men can be basic.
- Where I’m from, you knew
what girl belonged \h\h\hto what dude.
Now, you got women that’s independent.
\h\hThey don’t need a man for nothing.
Everything else in your life \his more important than me.
- I felt alone.
\hI had to become a single mother.
So when you would complain \h\habout emails, I’m like,
\h"Yo, that’s some petty-ass [bleep]."
- A’ight. Well, I’m ready \h\hfor this to be over.
- Let’s toast to no bitches. \h\h\h\h\h\h\hHow about that?
\h- Really? - Tonight.
\h\h\h\h\h\h- Just tonight? I want him to focus on us.
- And what does that mean? \h- And give me all of him.
\h\h\h\h\h\hI was used to being in a relationship with one guy.
- Women always want to talk. \h\h\h\h- I’m the girlfriend.
- Talk, talk, talk.
\h\h\h\h\h- Treat me like your [bleep] girlfriend.
- I just want to [bleep] \h\h\h\h\h\hgo to sleep.
\h- I don’t want us to keep going down
this dark road of disrespect.
- Do you want to get a divorce? \h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h\h- I’m tired.
- Just, I don’t understand \h\h\hwhy we’re even here.
What’s the point?