Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was married once, to Fred Willis, but they are divorced, and she does not currently have a husband. She has two adult children, both daughters.
Her father was a member of the Black Panther movement, according to South Atlanta Magazine. That magazine says her father’s name is John Clifford Floyd, and he was a criminal defense attorney who raised her in Los Angeles as a single father.
Willis took the stand during heated testimony on February 15 and testified about her romantic relationship with Trump special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Read about that here. On February 16, John Floyd, her dad, took the witness stand. You can read about his testimony here.
The New York Times calls Willis’s dad, “John Clifford Floyd III, a longtime civil rights activist and defense lawyer.”
Willis is in the news because of her Georgia investigation into former President Donald Trump.
Time Magazine reported that Willis and her husband divorced in 2005. “After she and her husband divorced in 2005, Willis continued climbing, eventually serving as chief deputy DA, before returning to private practice in 2018,” the magazine reported in 2021.
Here’s what you need to know:
Fred Willis, the Ex Husband of Fani Willis, Was Working as a Videographer When They Met
DA Fulton County Fani Willis:
“I took an oath. That oath requires that I follow the law. If someone broke the law, I have a duty to prosecute, and that’s exactly what I plan to do.”
According to Time, Willis’s father told her “his money would pay for a historically black college or university (HBCU),” so she ended up at Howard University.
She spotted her future husband, who was “working an extra job as a videographer,” on the “day she took the bar exam,” Time Magazine reported.
“He had some really nice legs,” Willis told Time. “It produced me two beautiful girls. So that’s what made me decide to stay in Atlanta. I graduated [Emory] in May. I was married by November.”
According to an article in South Atlanta Magazine posted on the Fulton County DA’s website, “She studied and graduated from Howard University in Washington D.C. in 1992, and later graduated from Emory University School of Law in 1996.”
Time reported that she worked for the city solicitor’s and then the district attorney’s office because she wanted “stability” after giving birth to two daughters. For 16 years, she worked for DA Paul Howard.
She told South Atlanta Magazine:
I was not only a mom but I was a single mom most of my career. I divorced when my children were very young, four and five years old. And, so, they had always had a mother that worked. I always had a couch in my office so that my children could come there and sleep as I prepare for trial.
Heavy is not naming the couple’s two daughters to protect their privacy. One of the daughters is 24 years old and is studying journalism at a university, according to public records.
In October 2021, Fani Willis wrote on her Facebook page:
No make up, no filters. Just me. Most people would not want my journey. Its not a glamorous life. I work more than I play, I am not instagram fine, (constantly restricting food and stay fussing with my trainer), my kids pretty, but they ain’t perfect (but God’s perfect gift to me). I am so thankful to God for my non traditional family, crazy friends and all their interesting and entertaining escapades, my relationship sucessess and goodbyes, my hard life lessons, my losses and my wins, my health (even when I make unhealthy choices). I thank God for his GRACE and Mercy and for every day that got me here. I am still standing! The best is yet to come!
Fani Willis Has Described Her Father as a Black Panther Who Was ‘Very Afrocentric’
Fani Willis is reportedly seeking at least a dozen indictments in her Trump investigation next week
Willis told South Atlanta Magazine that her name was Swahili and chosen by her father, who was a Black Panther.
“My name is actually Fani (fah-nee), Taifa is my middle name, and my last name is Willis. So, my father was a Black Panther, so he was very Afrocentric… my name is Swahili. Fani actually means ‘prosperous,’ and Taifa means ‘people,'” she told the magazine.
She noted, “We’re not talking about material things in wealth, we’re talking about that stuff that really matters… I always remember my roots, that I come from a prosperous people, which are African people.”
According to BET, her father “was a defense lawyer in the Washington, D.C. area” who “gave her a file clerk job when she was a child.”
She told South Atlanta Magazine:
One of the first things that my father constantly tells me is that everyone is entitled to dignity. And so that is something that I’ve tried to pass down. It is something that I impugn upon my staff. Everyone that we meet is not going to have the same education as us; They’re not going to have the same opportunities as us; the same in life experience, but they still have value. So that’s something I hope that I’ve imparted on my children. It is something that I demand of my staff. So that’s a lesson that he’s taught me that I hope to teach everyone I come in contact with.
I was about nine years old. I was being raised by a single dad. Our routine would be that on Saturday I would go to the hairdresser. But that would be after court
She noted:
My father was a Black Panther. That was before he went to law school but kind of post college. And so, yes, it’s something in our history I’m very proud of. He would come back here to the South and other places. In fact, his experiences of Georgia are that of the South. So, he’s kind of amazed as what he sees today.
My father will tell you that he’s been arrested so many times that he couldn’t even tell you … He could tell you the states but not how many times.
Fani Willis Wrote on Facebook That Her Favorite Title ‘of All Time Is Mommy’
IS IT DONE YET? I feel that Fani Willis is trying to tell us something.
In May 2022, Willis wrote on her Facebook page,
50! I think I like this chapter. I wear as many titles as weaves. Yep, I said it. Attorney, Counselor, Ms., Divorcée, Boss, Friend, Companion, Madam DA. But, I must admit my favorite title of all time is Mommy. Even though now a days Mommy is usually the prelude to a robbery. LOL! Happy Mom Day to my young sisters of every hue. Embrace your greatness even while your a princess morphing into a queen.
In July 2022, Fani Willis wrote on her Facebook page, “Little kids are so much easier than adult kids. 😑”
She wrote on Facebook that month, “It has been a really long week. My family has suffered some personal loss, I have lost a friend and the days have been long. In all that, I am sooooo grateful to God for all I have. Not the material things, but the Love, the friendships and the support. Have a good night and stay safe and hold on to what is important.”
She has filled her page with religious comments, writing, “Live in this moment without fear, but trusting in a higher power. Call on Jesus Christ in all things and he will literally open doors and make a way out of no way.”
In 2021, she wrote, “My Girls both did well this semester. 2021 don’t owe me nothing. Yippppeeee!”
She wrote in 2020, “There are times in life it becomes abundantly clear God is real. At the birth of my girls I knew a higher source was involved. Only God could create the awesomeness of my babies. The other is when I am at the Ocean! Taking an earned break at an undisclosed location. God is good alll the time!”
Fani Willis Referred to Her Grandmother as Her Idol
BREAKING🚨: A leak to CNN Reports that Fulton County DA Fani Willis is expected to seek indictments against “12 other Republicans” by way of conspiracy and racketeering charges, allowing her to bring a case against “multiple defendants.”
In 2020, Willis shared a photo of her grandmother on Facebook and wrote, “Look at my pretty grandmother. She is in her late 90s killing it. I can only hope I am as smart and dynamic as her in this next half of life! #Loveher #Myidol.”
She wrote in another post that she lost her aunt to the “horrible crime” of domestic violence.
She joked in 2021, “My daughter just Facetimed me from the library at college. That seems like the prelude for a request for money. IJS, I am not a rookie at this parent thing. The entire conversation I was wondering how much this going to cost me. 😂”
According to the South Atlanta Magazine article, Willis worked as an assistant district attorney for Fulton County before, in 2018, opening a private criminal defense and family law firm, where she specialized in “fathers’ rights.”
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