“Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Porsha Williams broke her silence after her estranged husband, Nigerian businessman Simon Guobadia, was arrested by ICE and detained in a federal facility.
Simon Guobadia faces almost certain deportation
According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security records obtained by WSB-TV in Atlanta, ICE — Immigration and Customs Enforcement — picked up Guobadia on Feb. 21. He is currently being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., about 140 miles southwest of Atlanta near the border with Alabama.
Guobadia’s impending removal from the U.S. is part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan after he declared a “national emergency” on illegal immigrants in January 2025.
Simon Guobadia had been trying to become U.S. citizen since 1982
Shortly thereafter, Williams, 43, spoke to her 8 million Instagram followers about her husband whom she is divorcing. Guobadia had been trying multiple times to obtain citizenship in the U.S. since 1982 but has been repeatedly denied and was declared deportable in 1985. Guobadia returned a year later, and in 1987, Guobadia was reportedly arrested and later pled guilty to bank and credit card fraud. He was then deported to Nigeria in 1992 after two more arrests. But he returned again and in 2016 applied for naturalization but was declined once more.
Williams referenced this in her IG post.
“It’s disheartening to see my estranged husband make choices that have led to this outcome. At this moment my priority is moving forward with my family. 🙏🏾,” she penned.
Porsha Williams and Simon Guobadia met in 2020
Willliams and Guobadia, 60, reportedly met at the Nigerian’s now-defunct restaurant in Atlanta in 2020 while she was filming Season 13 of RHOA. At the time, he was married to an official “friend of the show,” Falynn Pina, according to Essence.
Guobadia then began reportedly secretly dating Willliams during the apex of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2021 after Guobadia divorced Pina earlier that same year.
In May of 2021, the couple announced their engagement and were married in a two-day ceremony in November 2022. However, in February 2024, Williams announced that their 15-month marriage was coming to a close as she filed for divorce from Guobadia.
In November, court documents obtained by People then showed that Williams had been granted sole possession of their marital residence on a temporary basis. Furthermore, the court ruled that she would have an “unrestricted right to film and produce television, film or social media” at the home in suburban Atlanta.
When People caught up with Williams, she proclaimed that “God is good” regarding the court’s ruling.
“You know, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, has never let me down. And at the end of the day, you know, people are gonna take their shots, people are gonna try to speak on your future and what it is but it’s already written, baby,” she continued. “You can’t mess that up. It is what it is.”
