Getty Dee and Dandra Simmons in 2016
“Real Housewives of Dallas” star D’Andra Simmons has had an emotional season, mainly because of her family situation. For years, fans have considered her mom, “Momma Dee” Simmons an honorary cast member, but Simmons showed a new side of her family this season.
Simmons started out the season introducing fans to the situation her biological dad put her in. The RHOD star shared that she became estranged from her stepmom, Patsy, and adopted brother due to a will dispute from her late biological father. He left behind two wills: one that gave everything to Simmons and one that included his wife and his son.
She said, “[There] was a big fight over the family estate” because of the different wills. “We have a legal battle, and we ripped each other’s throats out, hearts out, everything we had because my father left us in this situation,” she said in a confessional. Simmons ultimately won, and it quickly tore them apart.
Simmons decided she wanted to reconnect with her stepmom and brother during the season and decided to reach out to both parties after Patsy told her her brother welcomed a baby. She will meet with her stepmom Patsy for the first time in more than 16 years on the latest season.
Simmons herself has not provided many details about her late biological father. “My father was of Scottish descent. My birth last name is Callaway,” she tweeted to a fan in 2016. She also shared that Callaway committed suicide shortly after her first wedding.
“My father committed suicide when he was in a drunken rage, so it’s really upsetting for me to have that conversation,” she told Andy Cohen in 2018, per People. “He was always an alcoholic. I grew up with an alcoholic father. That for me is a sensitive topic.”
Momma Dee Simmons also revealed some details on her ex. She told the Dallas Observer in 2018 she married Callaway, an eligible Dallas bachelor. “I made up my mind that I wasn’t gonna be poor all my life,” she said at the time. “You can get anyone you want. You just have to know how to work the system.”
Simmons Revealed Why She Took Her Stepfather’s Last Name
Simmons’s last name also caused a bit of chaos on this season of RHOD. The ladies celebrated fellow cast member and Simmons’s close friend Tiffany Moon’s birthday in a drunken celebration, and her last name became a topic of conversation. Momma Dee Simmons showed up to celebrate the birthday.
Friend Jennifer Davis randomly asked Simmons, “If your stepfather was Glen Simmons, why is your last name Simmons?” Simmons – after a few cocktails – turned to her mom and said, “Mom, I want you to explain to Jen. Why did I change my name?”
Her approach quickly backfired as Momma Dee Simmons replied, “Because you said that Simmons can take you a lot further than Callaway can.” Simmons then cried, “That’s not true. I would never do that. Are you f*cking really kidding me? You’re crazy.”
Momma Dee Simmons married Glenn Simmons when her only daughter was 6-years-old, and she often refers to him as her dad and her biological dad as her “friend.” Glen Simmons was a wealthy Texas businessman, and his brother was even wealthier, with an estimated net worth of $10 billion. Glen Simmons died in 2013.
“When I changed my name from Callaway to Simmons, it was because my stepfather had taken care of me,” Simmons said on the same RHOD episode. “My mother was like, ‘You changed your name because you thought it’d be better for you financially.'”
Simmons Opened Up About Seeing Her Estranged Stepmom
Fans will see Simmons meet up with her stepmom on the newest RHOD episode. “When we started the show this year, it was really interesting, because I had no plans to talk about my family,” Simmons told Distractify earlier this month. “My stepmother had reached out to me that week, and I turned to my husband [Jeremy Lock] and said, ‘We have to talk about this. This is our life.:
She added, “I wanted to reach out to them, but it was almost so serendipitous that they reached out to me. That’s what this is about. Reality television is about telling what’s happening in your life, and telling real stories that people can resonate with. Or not. People want to see that vulnerability. This is the first time I actually got to do that.”
READ NEXT: Summer House Star Addresses Cheating Rumors With Craig Conover