Amanza Smith is sharing an update on her search for her ex-husband, former NFL player Ralph Brown, a year after the Selling Sunset star revealed he had gone missing. The real estate reality star spoke candidly on a new episode of Dear Media’s Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, revealing the father of her two children — daughter Noah, 10, and son Braker, 9 — is still missing, but “doesn’t want to be found right now.”
“I don’t know where he is,” she continued, adding she is “positive he’s alive.” The exes divorced in 2012, but had 50/50 custody of their children until his disappearance, which makes the whole situation “so crazy,” Smith said: “He was a great father when he was around. He was a very loyal, hands-on, dedicated, interactive father.”
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The last time the Netflix star saw Brown was on Aug. 26, 2019, but she heard from him for the last time on Sept. 1. “He sent me an email, and he said, ‘My situation isn’t good right now. I can’t financially take care of the children. It’s not safe for them to be with me. You need to keep them until my situation changes,’” Smith said, adding that the emails have made it impossible for her to file a missing person’s report. Filing for full custody of the kids, however, is how she knows Brown is definitely alive.
“I know he’s alive because we’ve had to get an attorney and file court records, because I’m trying to get full custody. And at one point he submitted something to the courts where he did a change of address. We traced it back, and it’s a P.O. Box at like, a UPS store,” she said. “So, he’s off the grid. Whatever’s going on, and I have no idea what it is, he doesn’t want to be found right now. And for me, if he doesn’t want to be found, it’s probably best that he’s away until he’s better or until he wants to come back.”
Smith added Brown’s family has been “unresponsive” to her calls, emails and texts. “Anytime I reach out to anyone I get blocked,” she explained, which has been devastating for her kids, who were “very close to their grandparents, aunts and uncles.” For now, her family has to move on without Brown. “I’ve had to pick up the pieces and mend little broken hearts,” Smith said. “But right now we’re doing good, and we’ve settled into this new reality.”
