Scandal Surrounds Miss Jessie’s Founder’s Death

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.