On Monday night’s episode of “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta,” fans watched as Erica Dixon broke off her relationship with O’Shea Russell in a very public way as they argued and eventually split on the streets of Atlanta. Though their breakup was nasty, Dixon recently opened up about the split and explained the good and the bad of her romance with Russell.
As fans learned this season of “LAHHA,” Dixon and Russell’s relationship seemed OK until Dixon made it clear that Russell was becoming increasingly financially dependent on her, which eventually led to their demise.
“I feel like in our relationship he got very comfortable after the car accident, he broke his leg in three places and he had to get several surgeries and I was there to support him but I just feel like once he got back on his feet he … just lost that drive and ambition to be a man and take care of his woman and his kids,” said Dixon in a recent interview with Vh1.
Fans certainly noticed in one particular episode when Russell asked for Dixon’s credit card to pay for a double date with Karlie Redd and Yung Joc. And according to Dixon, that went from happening every once in a while to happening way too often.
“It would usually be ‘I forgot my wallet,’ or ‘I don’t have any cash.’ At first you don’t really think about it, because you’re in a relationship. Then it just got to the point where it’s like let me know beforehand and not after we’re out and we done had fun. Finally I got to the point where I’m like, you’re my man and you’re supposed to be the provider. I’m thinking you have it and it’s like, ‘Oh baby you got your card?’ What if I was just as broke as him, what was we gonna do? Cause I wasn’t going to wash dishes,” she said.
And in Dixon’s eyes, any man in a relationship with her has to be a provider.
“I definitely feel like a man should be the provider in a relationship. Just learning from my dad, I felt my dad always provided, even to this day — that’s just what [a man] does. I feel like if you fall I’m definitely there to pick you up and help put the pieces all back together. But it was like O’Shea never wanted to put it back together, it was just like everything was on me and that’s a lot. It wasn’t just O’Shea, it’s O’Shea and his three kids, and then it’s my daughter of course. I only have one child. I would’ve had four other kids to take care of, and I wasn’t ready for all that,” she explained.
Despite their bad breakup, Dixon does go on to say that Russell, aside from his financial issues, was a kind man to her.
“When we did meet, we were friends. What people don’t understand is regardless of what happened between us I can honestly say we’ve had our moments when he has fought for me, and he treated me like a queen. He made me feel like I was his queen — no additional women, no side relationships, no side friendships. He gave me that. That’s something that Scrappy could never give to me ever.” –nicholas robinson
