Hollywood has some of the craziest stories ever heard that hasn’t even made it to the silver screen, and unfortunately, the “Black Mother of Hollywood” has a story of her own. Jenifer Lewis was love bombed and duped by a career con artist! Yes, the actress we came to love for her portrayal as Tina Turner’s no non-sense mother in the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It and Aunt Helen on the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, while later dazzling us as Mama Rose on The Temptations and as Ruby Johnson on Black-ish, was brutally taken advantage of by a seasoned “F-boy.”
Lewis recapped her harrowing experience on the CNBC docu-series, American Greed, airing in late Oct. 2022.
“Telling the story about Antonio Wilson was very important for me because I wanted to help other women, it’s simple as that,” Lewis said in a behind-the-scenes interview with CNBC. “When something this horrible happens to you, I knew that with all the work that I had done in therapy for my bipolar disorder, etcetera, I knew if I was in as much pain as I was what other women must be suffering who don’t have those tools?”
The episode titled “Financial Infidelity” exposed Antonio Mariot Wilson as a real-life actor posing as the dream lover for wealthy and ambitious women. He went by the name Brice Carrington prior to coincidently bumping into Lewis at a Southern California LA Fitness gym where he worked as a personal trainer — note to self, don’t pick up potential lovers at the gym no matter how fine they are, ok!
They began dating and he pulled all the cards out of his magic bag of tricks to woo the bonafide actress, including broke man love texts and sappy stories about his life. The rouse couldn’t be more convenient for Lewis, who was dealing with the trauma of an ailing parent at the time.
By then, he claimed to be raising two children on his own while pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors. All he needed was an investor. After working on Lewis for a few months, convincing her that he was an honest, trustworthy man of integrity, Lewis gave him $50,000 in good faith to kickstart his dreams.
Things were going well until a very good friend of Lewis’ did her Googles on “Dr. Tony Mariot” and discovered that he was a full-blown felon. He had a record of scamming people and shifting around the United States to escape being exposed.
A heartbroken Lewis ended the relationship immediately, losing the man, the money, and a piece of her dignity. But she did not let it completely denigrate her spirit. She decided she was going to turn that lemon into a Limoncello spritz by sharing her experience with several online blogs and telling her story in detail on American Greed to make other women aware. She also hired a private investigator to build evidence that would finally put the fraudster behind bars.
A convincing victim statement from Lewis, along with charges regarding impersonating a higher ranking Navy officer, falsifying academic credentials, and claiming other people’s work credits in the film industry, sent him to the slammer. Wilson-Carrington is now serving an eight-year sentence in prison.
Watch American Greed’s “Inside The Episode”:
There’s lessons to learn from Lewis and her experience with a real-life joker. Lewis warns people to pay attention, adding that she is grateful that she keeps good people around her who look out for her best interests. Even with attention at high alert, she advises that people trust their instincts.
If you happen to be played by someone you cared for, come to terms with the fact that we’re all human and no one is perfect. Then, acknowledge your part in the situation and ask yourself what are you going to do about it. One initial step that Lewis recommends is to talk about the incident, whether that be in therapy or on a major TV series!
“When things traumatize us, it’s very, very, very difficult to talk about, but we must force ourselves because that’s the first step to healing,” Lewis quips. “We’re as sick as our secrets.”
The American Greed episode is continuously airing on CNBC.
