When Ed Sheeran decided to leave his much-loved home in Suffolk and base himself in the United States during his tour, one priority shaped the move: making sure he would still be there to read bedtime stories to his two young daughters.

Friends say the prospect of being thousands of miles from six-year-old Lyra and four-year-old Jupiter was simply too difficult for the singer to contemplate.

Sheeran therefore arranged for his wife, Cherry Seaborn, and their children to join him in Nashville, Tennessee. From there, he could perform at sold-out venues across the US before returning to them by private jet.

His weekend concerts were planned with family life in mind, often leaving a full week between dates. That schedule allowed him to handle his responsibilities as a father while travelling between cities including Boston, Los Angeles and Atlanta. After years of the strain associated with constant touring, the arrangement appeared to offer an ideal balance.

When he first devised the plan, Sheeran could not have known how important that support would become. Its value was especially clear on Saturday night, when he returned to the family’s rented mansion hours after breaking down during a Philadelphia performance and telling fans about the turmoil of the previous five days.

During an emotional address, he said friends and family had abandoned him after he failed to publicly support his tour’s opening act, Macklemore, who had used his performance slot to deliver pro-Palestinian speeches.

“I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandoned me,” Sheeran told the audience.

He also acknowledged making “mistakes” in the way he dealt with the dispute and admitted he was uncertain whether the tour would continue.

“When the family move was first planned, it was simply so he could see Cherry and the children most days,” a source close to the singer said. “Ed had no idea this would happen, but it is a relief that they are in the States because, at the moment, Cherry and the girls are the only things putting a smile on his face. They are his sanctuary, and that has proved far more valuable than anyone could have expected.

“The Philadelphia concert was the hardest of his life and this is the biggest challenge he has ever faced. But the thought of returning to Nashville, where his loving family would be waiting, kept him going.”

Friends of the 35-year-old singer have reportedly been increasingly worried about his wellbeing since last week, when billionaire businessman Robert Kraft barred Macklemore from appearing at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Sheeran is a personal friend of Kraft’s and performed at his wedding in 2022.

Kraft, 85, who is Jewish, accused the US rapper of hate speech following two earlier support performances in which Macklemore called for “Free Palestine” and made further comments while displaying images of Gaza.

Macklemore also performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters and used the term “genocide” to describe events in Gaza, a characterization rejected by Israel. He said his criticism of Israel was not aimed at “my Jewish brothers and sisters”.

Macklemore was dropped from the tour last Monday, prompting another backlash. Sheeran’s remaining support acts subsequently withdrew in protest, while several other public figures have since entered the debate.

Nadiya Hussain, the television chef and former Great British Bake Off winner, shared a video with her one million Instagram followers accusing Sheeran of displaying “white tears” and presenting himself as “the victim”. In the clip, British therapist Megan Cooper said: “If the tears of Palestinians and black, brown and indigenous communities carried as much gravity, genocide would not happen.”

Welsh singer Charlotte Church also criticised Sheeran, telling the audience at her Cardiff concert on Sunday that he was choosing money over what she considered the right course of action.

“Whilst he has made millions and has an enormous following, he has an enormous platform to do real good in the world. He chose consumerism and capitalism over doing the right thing,” Church said.

She added: “So we say the same thing to Ed Sheeran because f*** the fact [he says] that musicians shouldn’t be involved in politics. F*** that s***. Politics is life.” Church then told Sheeran, “we’re watching you,” repeating the line with her band at least four times before leading the crowd in chants of “Free Palestine”.

Friends of Sheeran were quick to hit back at both women, saying of Nadiya: ‘Hasn’t she got anything better to do?’ and adding of Charlotte: ‘She’s just cross.’

But, make no mistake, the saga has left Sheeran ‘in bits’. One friend tells me: ‘It is something he will never get over. ‘Ed is a people-pleaser, he tries to keep politics out of his singing but this has hit him like a train.’

Although, I’m told, his parents Imogen and John have been ‘propping him up’ as has his brother Matt, a classically trained composer, Sheeran is said to be ‘absolutely furious’ that his estranged cousin Jethro has joined the online pile-on.

Writing under his artist handle Alonestar, the rapper from Bristol dubbed Sheeran a ‘bad human’ and said: ‘I’m ashamed of my cousin Ed. He’s a coward.’

It was Jethro, I understand, whom the singer was referring to when he cited being abandoned by his family in his onstage meltdown. ‘Jethro has been a very difficult issue in the family for quite some time and a bit of a thorn in Ed’s side,’ a source tells me.

‘He seems to throw stones at Ed whenever he gets the chance and has made all sorts of wild allegations over the years. The truth is he’s just jealous and disgruntled.’

The repercussions appear far from over yet.

Sheeran’s manager Stuart Camp has jetted out to the US to deal with the fallout, while there have been transatlantic Zoom calls between members of his team.

When talking to friends and those around Sheeran, it’s clear his torment is deeply felt.

‘Ed has cried, he’s been angry, he’s been hurt, but more than anything he’s just hugely upset. He can’t believe he has found himself in this position and it feels as though he can’t do right whichever way he turns.

‘He’s been talking a lot to his team, his manager Stuart who he’s very close to and others who are there around him and trying to work out what to do. But it feels as though there just isn’t any solution to keep everyone happy.

‘He’s completely exhausted emotionally. Everyone involved is utterly drained. And every time he tries to make the situation better another celebrity comes out of the woodwork and criticises him. He feels a bit exploited and used by others who seem to be enjoying the publicity at his expense. Some of the comments have come as a real shock. He’s had it from both sides at once.’

So distraught is the star that I’m told he’s considering taking a long break from his music career. Friends tell me that all he wants to do is ‘stick on a baseball cap and pretend he’s not famous’ for as long as he possibly can.

He has previously taken himself off to far-flung places – such as Japan and Antarctica (where he and Cherry conceived their first daughter, Lyra Antarctica) as well as backpacking across Australia and New Zealand. Friends say this crisis has deepened his resolve to do something similar again.

‘He has made a pattern of taking himself away for long periods during his career, especially since starting a family.

‘When he travels he often doesn’t have any contact with the rest of the world – he leaves it all behind him and goes away to places that are often quite remote and a million miles away from his daily stresses and the pressure of being famous.

‘He loves nothing more than to put on a baseball cap and go back to being normal Ed, with no showbiz entourage or anything. He likes to go totally off-grid – and he’s never needed it more.’

In the past week, several members of the music industry have got in touch with me to share their views on the crisis.

Some who have spent time with Sheeran and adore him are deeply upset for him. One told me: ‘It’s heartbreaking to hear him like this when none of it is his fault.’

Others, however, have been quick to describe it as a ‘PR disaster’. One senior music executive took the view that Sheeran should have cancelled the 26-date tour.

‘He was absolutely stupid if he thought he was going to get away unscathed with this. If I was advising him, I would have told him to cancel it.’

However sources close to Sheeran have been quick to explain that this was simply not feasible. I’m told that with around 150 people employed by the tour as crew, cancelling the remaining North American gigs would have cost Sheeran in the region of £30million because he would not have been covered by insurance.

A source says: ‘People don’t seem to understand what the reality of cancelling those gigs would have actually looked like and cost Ed personally. There was no definitive need to cancel the shows, so no insurance company is going to pick up the bill, and the bill for hosting them is huge.

‘On top of that there were about 750,000 tickets which would need to be reimbursed and all sorts of other upfront staging and transport costs. In the end a rough estimate would have meant Ed personally becoming liable for around £30million. Even someone as successful as him isn’t in a position to pull that sort of money out of nowhere.

‘The artists speaking out have no clue how many people are relying on Ed for their livelihoods and he really respects that – he understands this isn’t just about him.’

While Sheeran currently feels as if he is, as one friend says, ‘public enemy number one’, he has been touched by support from some of his long-term allies, including Elton John, to whom he speaks via video call on his iPad (Ed doesn’t own a phone) most days.

‘Ed has amazing friends in the business who totally get it. Nobody is closer to him than Elton John. They speak every single day via iPad, often video calls, just to chat and keep in touch. He’s a very valuable mentor.’

As for his long-standing friend Taylor Swift, her PR didn’t respond to repeated requests when I asked whether she had been in contact with her fellow singer.

A-list support aside, those in Sheeran’s camp know they are in for an arduous journey before they reach the end of the tour on December 11 in Mexico City.

This Friday, he will play at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where there are likely to be huge protests.

Those close to the star fear the performance – at the arena which first banned Sheeran’s controversial support act – will only reignite the row. One said: ‘Ed is terrified of what will be that night.

‘But what will undoubtedly get him through will be the thought of Cherry and his little girls waiting for him when he gets home.’

The familiar questions about USC’s defense are back.

And once again, the pressure is building around the Trojans.

Lincoln Riley, critics insist, still hasn’t figured out how to finish the job.

Choose almost any complaint about USC and it has already been raised.

What else could be said after the Trojans narrowly escaped Rutgers on the same field where UMass had overwhelmed the Scarlet Knights just two weeks earlier?

The spotlight turned sharply toward Riley after his team was forced to fight through what was expected to be a final tuneup before the schedule became considerably more demanding.

Much of the scrutiny has focused on a defense that surrendered 460 yards and 35 points. Rutgers scored only seven fewer points against USC than it had produced in its first two games combined.

A third of the way through the regular season, the addition of Gary Patterson has yet to make a significant difference. USC ranks 60th nationally in yards allowed per game at 317.5 and 73rd in scoring defense at 22.8 points per game — numbers compiled against Louisiana, Fresno State, San Jose State and arguably the Big Ten’s weakest team.

So what does Riley make of the criticism that this defense is no better than the units USC had under Alex Grinch and D’Anton Lynn?

“Yeah, I base my opinions on what I see on tape, I base my opinions on what I see in the thousands of hours that we put into this and that’s kind of where my opinions stay, so I really don’t have a response to that,” Riley said Tuesday when asked by the California Post about the widespread criticism.

“Our job is to win, our job is to continue to battle and continue to improve. We need to play a lot better on third down and fourth down than we did the other night, and that’s the biggest thing that we took away from that. So, we made a lot of big plays, but we’ve got to play steadier, and we’ve got to get off the field when we get the opportunities.”

Riley was referring to Rutgers’ success on money downs: The Scarlet Knights converted 6 of 11 third-down opportunities and 3 of 4 fourth downs. That might be excusable against Ohio State, but it is far harder to accept against one of the Power Four’s worst teams.

For USC fans, the larger concern is that Riley’s first College Football Playoff appearance since taking over nearly five years ago still does not appear any closer. The Trojans seemingly remain stuck with the same defining weakness.

The timing is particularly troubling given the opponent waiting next.

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The Oregon Ducks, imposing despite their own recent setback, will challenge both USC’s defense and its composure when they visit the Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

Riley is 0-2 against Oregon, though both defeats came at Autzen Stadium. That leaves even less room for explanation if USC cannot deliver at home this time.

USC’s uneven performance against Rutgers, coupled with Oregon’s loss to Oklahoma State the previous week, has taken some shine off a matchup that was expected to be a major September showdown between the No. 12 Trojans (4-0) and No. 20 Ducks (2-1).

USC was again passed over by ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which last visited the Trojans in 2013. Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee and the rest of the crew will instead be in Knoxville for Tennessee-Texas on Saturday.

Even without the national pregame show, it remains by far the biggest game on the West Coast. USC announced a sellout last week.

“This game should have a lot riding on it and be important,” Riley said. “It’s important to the fan bases, it’s important to college football. … It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”

How fiery might Oregon coach Dan Lanning get in his pregame speech one year after ripping off several zingers before the Ducks pulled away for a 42-27 triumph?

“They’re living off their history,” Lanning said, going on to get even more personal.

“Matt Leinart, he ain’t walking through there.”

“Why are you wearing black? You’re going to a Trojan funeral.”

Will Riley throw any verbal counterpunches before the biggest home game of his time with the Trojans? (And perhaps more importantly, will the footage be released?)

A loss would be devastating for either team, likely knocking the Ducks out of CFP contention. For USC, a setback would put its CFP hopes on the ropes before the end of September given the gauntlet ahead.

With games on the road against No. 13 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana remaining — not to mention a home game against No. 7 Ohio State — the Trojans need a win of this magnitude to bolster their CFP hopes and quiet the growing unease among their fan base.

Noting that nothing is linear in college football, Riley intimated that there’s no way to predict a team’s success — or failure — from one week to the next.

“Each game’s its own game and you have to understand and you have to learn from it,” Riley said, “but just because something happened in one game for any side — good or bad — has no bearing on what’s going to happen the next week.”

For generations, the American dream has rested on a familiar promise: with enough hard work, anyone—regardless of background—can achieve financial security, move up the economic ladder and eventually own a home.

But for millions of Americans, buying a house is no longer viewed as an inevitable milestone. Instead, soaring prices and mounting responsibilities are turning homeownership into a financial burden—and inspiring a once-unthinkable question: What if I never buy a home at all?

Rising prices are at the center of the shift. Researchers at Harvard University found that the typical US home now costs roughly five times the median household income. Historically, that figure has been closer to three times income.

The age of the typical first-time buyer has climbed as well. According to the National Association of Realtors, it has reached a record 40, compared with about 28 in the early 1990s.

Real estate giant CBRE estimated that buying a home will cost 105 percent more per month than renting in 2026. At the same time, the US is facing an estimated shortage of 3.4 million single-family homes.

Together, those figures show that prospective buyers are confronting a challenge far more complex than deciding whether they can manage a 7 percent rate on a 30-year mortgage.

Jon Perroni, 31, works in human resources in New York. He told the Daily Mail that many younger Americans are struggling with a housing market in which home prices have surged far faster than their paychecks.

‘Baby boomers had the opportunity to buy early and build their wealth over a few decades,’ Perroni told us. By contrast, he said, Gen Z is confronting steeper housing and living costs without incomes that have risen at the same pace.

Student loans, routine household expenses and an uncertain job market can make it even more difficult for younger workers to accumulate the money required for a down payment, Perroni said.

Still, he said many people are not abandoning the idea of owning altogether. Some are moving to less expensive areas, taking on side jobs or postponing the decision while they wait for their circumstances to improve.

‘Many people are simply waiting to be in the right place professionally/personally before they make such an important decision,’ Perroni told us.

For Kate Jones, a 37-year-old consultant in New York, renting is not solely a response to high prices. It also fits the lifestyle she wants.

Jones travels for much of the year and told the Daily Mail that she appreciates being able to leave a home without arranging its upkeep or worrying about what happens to the property while she is away.

‘If I owned a home and was away, I’d have to worry about managing it or becoming a landlord – and that’s just not something I want to take on,’ she said.

That freedom is among renting’s key advantages, according to PenFed Credit Union. Renters generally avoid many of the costs and obligations associated with ownership, including routine maintenance, unexpected repairs, homeowners insurance and possible HOA charges.

Homeowners, meanwhile, must be prepared for expenses beyond the mortgage. A failed water heater, damaged roof, plumbing emergency or pest infestation can produce substantial bills—costs that remain a risk even after the monthly payment has been carefully budgeted.

The trade-off has become a prominent discussion among first-time buyers on Reddit. In one discussion, a homeowner warned that the ‘hidden costs of homeownership are abundant,’ while another recounted receiving a $25,000 bill after a bathroom leak spread into a neighboring apartment.

The Reddit discussion also illustrates why comparing a rent payment directly with a mortgage payment can be misleading because buyers must account for property taxes, insurance, maintenance, all utilities, closing costs and – in some cases – private mortgage insurance.

PenFed says buyers should also consider how long they expect to remain in the property, noting that it can take three to five years for a home to appreciate enough to recoup the down payment and closing costs through a sale.

But for anyone arguing in favor of renting over buying, they must reckon with the biggest advantage of the latter: Part of every mortgage payment builds equity in the property.

Economist Nadia Evangelou told the Daily Mail that the difference ultimately comes down to wealth, pointing to estimates that the median homeowner has a net worth of around $430,000 compared with roughly $10,000 for a renter, with home equity accounting for most of the difference.

Over time, homeowners benefit if the value of their property rises, while a renter has opted out of appreciation entirely.

But buying is not automatically the cheaper option.

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One widely shared financial analysis on Reddit compared a hypothetical $500,000 home with a $2,500-a-month rental, assuming a 20 percent down payment, a five percent real investment return and 2.5 percent annual real home appreciation.

Under those assumptions, the analysis estimated that the homeowner could spend about $1.6 million over 30 years on the mortgage, taxes, insurance and maintenance, while ending up with a property worth around $1 million.

The renter, meanwhile, would spend about $1.4 million on rent over the same period, but could potentially invest the $100,000 down payment they did not spend, along with the difference between their housing costs and the homeowner’s expenses.

The analysis estimated that those investments could eventually be worth more than $1 million – but that outcome depends heavily on the assumptions and, crucially, on the renter actually investing the money rather than spending it.

That is one reason financial experts caution against treating a rent-versus-buy calculator as a crystal ball.

‘You don’t NEED to buy a house,’ financial planner Joshua Wilson wrote in a LinkedIn post, arguing that someone paying $3,000 in rent is not automatically better off paying $4,300 to own once taxes, insurance, maintenance, HOA fees and closing costs are added.

The upfront cost can also be substantial.

Buyers may need to save not only for their down payment but also for closing costs, inspections, moving expenses and an emergency fund for the inevitable repairs that come with owning a property.

And putting down less than 20 percent can mean paying private mortgage insurance, adding another monthly expense until certain conditions are met.

For renters, the trade-off is that their monthly payment generally does not give them an ownership stake in the property.

Then there are the tax advantages to homeownership, although they’re not available to every homeowner.

The federal mortgage-interest deduction allows taxpayers who itemize to deduct qualifying mortgage interest from their taxable income, generally subject to the applicable mortgage principal limits.

Taxpayers who take the standard deduction cannot separately claim the mortgage-interest deduction.

That means the tax break should be treated as one part of a homeowner’s calculation rather than a guaranteed annual refund.

As noted above, renters can build wealth without owning property by investing money that would otherwise have gone toward a down payment or higher ownership costs.

PenFed notes that a home is only one type of investment – and that renters can potentially build wealth by investing consistently instead, although all investments carry risk and returns are not guaranteed.

The crucial difference is discipline.

A homeowner automatically puts at least some of each mortgage payment toward the principal balance, whereas a renter needs to make a conscious decision to invest the money they are saving.

There is also evidence that renters are increasingly choosing to stay put rather than treating renting as merely a temporary stop on the road to homeownership.

CBRE said lease renewals accounted for 57 percent of multifamily leasing activity in 2026, compared with 51 percent in 2015 and 48 percent in 2005, as high homebuying costs encourage more people to remain renters.

For someone who moves frequently, has an unpredictable income, lacks an emergency fund or wants to keep their savings available for other goals, renting can therefore provide a degree of financial flexibility that ownership cannot replicate.

But for someone who can comfortably afford the costs, plans to stay put for many years and values building equity and having control over their home, buying offers benefits that a rental cannot replicate.

The key question is increasingly not whether renting means someone has failed to achieve the American dream, but whether their housing choice allows them to balance the costs, risks, flexibility and wealth-building opportunities that matter most to them.

Todd Tucker is opening up about the “dark” and isolating period he experienced while separated from “Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Kandi Burruss in a candid interview with Page Six.

“I’m gonna be honest, when we separated, I stayed in the guesthouse, which is just me in this big house by myself. My kids and the family are next door, and it was a lot of alone time,” Tucker, 53, exclusively told Page Six.

With so much time alone, Tucker said he found himself consumed by painful questions about the end of his marriage and the possibility of losing his family. “What did I just do? What just happened? Did I lose my family?” he recalled. “So I’m gonna be honest, I had nobody really to lean on.”

The entertainment producer also repeated a disturbing admission featured in his upcoming docuseries, “Til Divorce Do Us Part,” revealing that during some of his most difficult moments, he “looked at [his] gun.”

Tucker said he ultimately pulled himself back by focusing on his responsibilities as a father. “But then I snapped out of it, like, ‘No, you have a family. You have kids that you have to see them through,’” he remembered.

Tucker and Burruss, 50, have four children between them. They share 10-year-old son Ace and 6-year-old daughter Blaze, while each has an adult daughter from a previous relationship: Kaela Tucker, 30, and Riley Burruss, 24.

“It was a lot of dark times, but since then, I’ve been going to church, I’m about to find me a therapist and just take this journey of rebuilding myself,” Todd said. He added that he wants to become “the best dad and the best co-parent” while moving forward.

Previews for “Til Divorce Do Us Part,” which Todd described as his answer to Kandi’s recent “I Do. I Did. I’m Done.” tour, feature serious conversations with several of his male friends. Many of those friends have appeared on “RHOA” or remain connected to the franchise.

Tucker said making and appearing in the docuseries was “very emotional,” but he believed it was “important” to share his perspective and, as a man, “get it out” and “tell [his] side of the story.”

“I think we [men] carry a lot of stress, we carry a lot inside, and sometimes, it’s too late, you know? It’s a stroke, or he’s got cancer because he’s been holding it [in],” he said.

His message to other men is to seek help before emotional pain becomes overwhelming. “Just get it out, speak to a therapist, however you got to get it out,” Todd urged. “Don’t try to bash anybody, don’t try and make anybody look bad, but just get it off your chest.”

Tucker also believes he is entitled to speak publicly about his experiences because Burruss has frequently discussed their relationship in the public eye.

“I’ve been labeled everything in the book for over a decade on ‘Housewives.’ And I’ve never really spoken, and I just wanna be heard. And after that, I’ll go fade into the darkness, and you won’t hear nothing again,” he said.

“And I’ll just do my movies and, you know, still do my projects, but I won’t be talking,” vowed Todd, who will host a double-feature premiere of his docuseries and new film, “Don’t Bring Your Man to Atlanta,” next month as part of an AMC Theaters weekend takeover.

The TTucker Productions founder, who famously left his job as a “RHOA” producer so he could date Kandi without a professional conflict, also said he is confused by her reaction to a moment featured in the first “Til Divorce Do Us Part” trailer.

In the preview, “RHOA” alum Cynthia Bailey’s former husband, Peter Thomas, asks Todd, “Is the threesome s–t for real for real?” Todd responds, “We did, we did. I would say [for] most of our marriage, we did.”

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Burruss later criticized Todd for “choosing to sensationalize [their] sex life to stretch his five minutes of fame.” She argued that “what consensually happens between a husband and wife in the privacy of their marriage is exactly that: private.”

Todd disputed that characterization, pointing out that the Grammy-winning musician and former Bravolebrity had discussed their sex life during her 14 seasons on “RHOA.” Burruss also shared details on her adult-themed talk show, “Kandi Koated Nights,” and created the Bedroom Kandi sex-toy line.

“I gotta ask you a question: Do we have a private marital sex life?” Todd asked rhetorically during the interview.

“And this is not even from me. Like, you’ve heard it from her. So how private is it?” he continued. Todd added that Burruss had discussed their threesomes without consulting him, but said he generally chose not to object. “For the most part, I’m a good sport, so I never made a problem of it or an issue of it.”

He claimed Thomas’ question arose from Kandi’s own confessions.

“So at the end of the day, I’m not throwing out there any new information,” Todd insisted. “I’m not out there doing a tell-all or naming any people or doing anything like that. It was just a conversation, and that’s really all it was.”

As for why Kandi pulled the plug on their 11-year marriage, Todd admitted vaguely that there was one particular “incident” involving another woman, which he will elaborate on in the docuseries.

“A lot of our friends were like, ‘Buy her flowers, buy her flowers.’ But I was like, ‘Hey, this is bigger than flowers.’ So I set up for us to go to therapy ’cause this was beyond buying flowers. ‘Cause if I buy flowers and she’s happy and we’re cool, I’m still not 100%, you know what I’m saying?” Todd said.

“So I wanted to deal with the overall relationship issues, and I think looking back, she wanted me to fix where she was at in the moment before she could fix the bigger part of the relationship issues, if that makes sense. So I just think when I saw she wasn’t willing to fight with me, I just thought that it’s probably best for me to just kind of bow out. If she wants a divorce, give her the divorce.”

But Todd, who told us repeatedly that he misses his family, added, “I made vows to be with her forever, and I would have stayed forever.”

However, he accepts Kandi’s decision and acknowledged that “sometimes, things aren’t meant forever.” And even though they’ve experienced rocky moments amid their very public split, Todd made sure to stress, “We’re always fine with each other. There’s never any tension or anything. Even though we may be pissed off or mad or feeling a way, we put it to the side for our kids.”

Though Todd doesn’t necessarily blame reality TV for the demise of his marriage, he does feel it “played a part.”

He also believes he “allowed a lot of disrespect” from Kandi’s historically critical mom, “Mama Joyce” Jones, and said he feels a weight has been “lifted off [his] shoulders” now that she’s no longer an active part of his life.

“I was trying to prove myself to somebody who didn’t like me, and I never stopped,” he told us. “And I’ve never stopped caring about her seeing my kids and making sure [they know], ‘That’s your grandma. Make sure you call her.’”

As for whether he’s currently dating, Todd explained he “need[s] some time to get [himself] together” before he can be “ready to be a good man for somebody” else.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

A Texas lawmaker is cautioning that an accused wife-killer’s flight to Italy—and the decision to drop the death penalty as a potential punishment—could create a dangerous precedent for future criminal defendants.

Lee Gilley, 39, faces a capital murder charge in connection with the October 2024 death of his wife, Christa, who was nine weeks pregnant. The Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that she died in a homicide caused by neck compression. Gilley has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities say Gilley removed his ankle monitor on May 1 and left Texas before his trial could begin. Court records show that he traveled to Italy’s Milan Malpensa Airport using a false identity and forged documents before Italian authorities arrested him.

Gilley’s U.S. attorney, Dick DeGuerin, previously told News Media that Italian judges demanded a written assurance that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty before considering his extradition. DeGuerin said Italian authorities could also request a guarantee that Gilley would not receive life in prison without parole.

“Most civilized countries in the free world have abolished the death penalty,” DeGuerin told News Media on Tuesday. “The U.S. and Texas should do the same, in my opinion after spending 61 years of my adult life in the criminal justice system.”

In response to the Italian judges, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said it would not seek the death penalty against Gilley. However, prosecutors stopped short of promising they would not pursue life without parole, pointing out that he could eventually be eligible for commutation.

Texas State Representative Brian Harrison told News Media that he is deeply concerned about the possibility of a European nation influencing how a defendant is sentenced in Texas.

“You’re almost opening Pandora’s box in sort of a roundabout way, allowing … some of those European socialist soft on crime liberal politicians to be able to wield influence over what happens in Texas courts,” Harrison said. “I do not want foreign governments, foreign officials, foreign courts having anything to do with how we enforce criminal laws here in the state of Texas.”

“What’s to stop them from moving the goalposts even further?”

Harrison said the case could establish a troubling model for other suspects who might look for unconventional ways to limit the punishments they face.

“If you can somehow, once you’re out on bond, just touch foot on foreign soil and then turn the extradition hearings into basically a way to whittle down potential punishments … the implications are profound and very concerning to me,” Harrison said.

A hearing took place before the Turin Court of Appeal on Sept. 7. DeGuerin told News Media that the extradition process had been delayed again.

At a July 15 hearing before the Turin Court of Appeal, Gilley said he was seeking protection in Italy, according to NBC News. The court blocked the extradition request during a July 20 hearing.

Gilley’s Italian attorney, Monica Grosso, has said that Christa suffered from a blood disorder and that blood found in the couple’s bedroom was inconsistent with the prosecution’s account of her death.

“I am seeking protection in Italy,” Gilley said. “They want to punish me, and I am asking for protection for myself and my children.”

Gilley is scheduled to appear at another Turin Court of Appeal hearing on Oct. 7.