Syleena Johnson has left a lot of women questioning her standards after admitting that cheating was not a “dealbreaker” for her.
The revelation happened during a recent episode of Johnson’s talk show, “Crowned,” featuring Vivica A. Fox, Chanel Scott, and Kendra G. as co-hosts. The women share their takes on various topics that involve men and women, giving their unfiltered and raw opinions.
In a snippet shared on Johnson’s Instagram page, Scott can be heard asking the group of ladies if infidelity is the end all, be all in a relationship.
While stepping out on your partner is seen as an unforgivable act to many, Johnson appeared to have a different take. “No,” she answered after a long silent pause. The Chicago singer has been in a relationship with fellow Chicagoan and former NBA player Kiwane Garris for nearly two decades.
She went on explaining, “It really depends. I’ve been married 16 years. I’ve been with my husband for 18 years. So, fortunately for me, that is not something, praise the Lord, I’ve had to go through. But I don’t necessarily think that it is a dealbreaker.”
Johnson said there are many “different variables” that go into her decision, naming their two children as the top ones.
“My husband, if he was to cheat on me right now today, I have two sons,” Johnson shared. She added that both of her children, 16-year-old Kiwane Garris Jr. and 12-year-old Kingston Garris, are currently in “pivotal” moments of their lives and she’s not willing to possibly ruin their mental state by splitting up their family.
She said, “Kingston is 12, and my other son is right in the middle of his basketball trying to find a college. … All of that, they need their father in this instance, and I don’t know what that might do to them mentally to see us be totally and completely apart.”
Johnson continued, suggesting that she’d be willing to “suck up” any issues that may occur in their marriage solely because of her boys. Her thoughts were met with unwavering IG social media users who suggested that Johnson would be doing her children an injustice for staying with a man who mishandled their mother.
One person penned, “Soooo teach your sons that it’s ok to mishandle women and your vows because mommy is going to stay? This is a loaded question I do understand her point to some degree but it’s also teaching your sons that this behavior is ok.”
Another commenter stated, “It’s detrimental for kids to see their Mom or Dad in pain too. It’s also possible the cheating will NEVER stop. Then what. The parents can co parent with properly and the children will be fine.”
Others suggested that everyone has “taken back a cheater,” while some accused Johnson of sacrificing her happy to stay married.
“And this is why folks be unhappily married fr years!!” wrote one IG user. “Alot of ppl stay married bcuz of the kids. Hey if it works fr u then we love it,” and another said, “I tip my hat to alot of yall women. Yall built different. If I was married and my wife cheated, that’s automatically grounds for divorce for me. I’d walk away peacefully.”
While Johnson’s may be misunderstood by some, other comments applauded her decision in wanting to keep her family together through thick and thin, for better for worse, as they say. One handler wrote, “You gotta go through it to understand, especially when there’s kids involved…how people deal with it is their business…I appreciate her honesty.”
Although Johnson claimed that Garris has never stepped outside of their marriage, she’s previously admitted to emotionally cheating on her husband. In 2015, the couple appeared on We TV’s reality series “Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars.”
During a lie detector test, Johnson shocked everyone by answering “Yes” when asked if she had ever cheated.
“It’s like emotional cheating,” she said. “Text message stuff. And that’s why he hates the phone.”
Garris said he wasn’t a fan of comments at the time, as he was hesitant to see what social media users had to say about marriage. But he doesn’t seem to regret doing the show that taught him a valuable lesson in marriage.
“Even on our bad days, most of the time it’s not about me or me getting on her nerves. Her job probably got on her nerves and she won’t want to talk about it,” Garris explained. “I always thought it was my fault when she was upset or something was going wrong.”
He said they had already been in therapy, but Johnson feared falling into the trend of couples that break up after reality TV.
“People say, ‘When ya’ll get on TV, it’s going to break up your marriage up,’ but actually that’s not true,” Johnson told Essence magazine in 2020. “Your marriage can break up off TV. If there’s something that’s wrong, TV is only going to enhance it, but that means something was wrong anyway.”
Fortunately, Garris and Johnson have found a way to move on from their past issues and move forward as a seemingly solid union.
