By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
We told you months ago that Miss Jessie’s founder Titi Branch committed suicide last December, but details surrounding her death were limited.
Now the New York Post claims there’s way more to the story and it’s possible Titi’s own boyfriend played a role in her demise…well at least that’s what her sister Miko thinks.
The NY Post writes:
What led her to such a dark place, and who might profit from her tragic death, are questions now at the center of a court battle between the two people closest to her: sister Miko Branch, with whom she launched “Miss Jessie’s” hair products, named after their grandmother, and Anthony Spadafora, the Pennsylvania man she loved. Each blames the other for the Queens native’s downward spiral.
Titi, 45, was under Spadafora’s Svengali-like spell, Miko claims in Manhattan Supreme Court papers, saying he isolated her from her family, manipulated her and treated her like a human ATM.
Titi even changed the beneficiary of her $2 million in life insurance policies from her sister to Spadafora — because of his “undue influence,” Miko claims.
“My sister’s death has been a devastating blow,” she told The Post. “It was only after Titi’s death that we learned more about what she’d been going through and how her affairs were being managed.”
Spadafora “wielded exceptional control over [her] while fully aware that her mental health was severely compromised,” the sister claims, referring to Titi’s “disabling” depression.
In just two years Spadafora, 43, managed to “extract” hundreds of thousands of dollars from Titi to launch his own beard-care business, Maestro’s Classics; $420,000 to buy and renovate a Pennsylvania house; and a $135,000 interest-free loan.
“In exchange, [she] received nothing,” Miko charged.
The publication also claims Miko claims in court documents that Titi tried to break things off with Spadafora when she learned he tried to get with her personal trainer, but he allegedly threatened to release scandalous photos he had taken of her if she did.
The family also claims that just a few days after Titi’s death, Spadafora notified the family that he had a new will drafted by Titi that gave him 50 percent of everything.
In more court documents, it’s claimed Spadafora refused to return her computer to her family until they gave him Titi’s Cartier bracelet. And when they received the computer, they realized it was wiped clean.
Spadafora on the other hand is blaming Titi’s death on Miko, and he claims her depression was a result of clashing one too many times with her sister while running their natural hair care business together.
That’s the downside of having money. When you get enough of it, you really have to watch your back because a lot of people will try to use you. This man sounds like a creep.
And of course he’s white. SMDH.
This man is sick for taking advantage of a depressed person.
This!! You have to be the scum of the earth to do that!!
This is sad all around. I feel for her family. Especially Miko.
This won’t be popular opinion, but why did Titi allow this bum to do this to her? As soon as he showed her he wasn’t ish, she should have cut him off. And if he was trying to blackmail, she should have gotten the police involved. Now she’s gone and he’s got 50% of everything she worked so hard for.
I think it’s quite obvious that she was suffering from severe mental illness, so she most likely wasn’t thinking with a right mind.
That’s easier said than done for some people especially if she was in a deep depression. You have people who don’t have a mental illness that let people take advantage of them. So something that could be easier for you and I might not be so easy for someone else.
She had too many users around her. Family included probably.
I don’t think her family was the problem. Not everyone can deal with the stress that comes with running a business. And these ladies have an empire. That’s hard to keep going.
Money can’t buy happiness.
This poor family. I can’t imagine what they are going through right now. It was so unexpected and they probably wish they could have saved her.
This is so sad.
He needs his a-s whooped.
I agree. It needed to happen like yesterday.
Agreed!
I think it’s selfish to kill yourself and put your family through that kind of pain. But let me hush. I’m not trying to argue with anyone about it.
You reap what you sow. His time will come.
Damn shame.
Praying for her fam.
My guess is he was just a cat fishing predator who took full advantage of her without having to do it online long distance like most of those type cases since they met on Match.com. Sad situation all around. Hopefully her family can prove their case to the court and make his trifling a$$ pay.
I didn’t even know she was in her 40s. She looked so young. May God rest her soul.