After being married to a man named Lamar Sally for years and even trying to have a baby with him, Sherri Shepherd just decided to randomly up and leave one day. Shockingly enough, she abandoned her unborn son in the process, leaving Lamar a single, broke parent — and her reasoning behind it is seriously insane.
Back in 2014, Sherri decided that she no longer wanted to be married to Lamar, and to his surprise, she also no longer wanted to be a mother. When she broke the news to him, Lamar was shocked. He supposedly had no idea what could have made her change her mind like that, especially since they’d been trying to have a baby for so long.
Sherri Never Felt Like the Baby Was Hers
The whole thing seems so strange, and it’s really confusing why she would act the way she did. But according to Sherri, she never really felt like the baby was hers in the first place. Sherri has spent years trying to clear her name and remove herself from the situation altogether.
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However, she still pays child support to this day, which means that she hasn’t fully left the kid high and dry. Regardless of the payments, though, Lamar has had a lot to say about the situation, and it’s hard to know just who exactly is telling the truth here.
So, let’s take a look at where it all started. Sherri and Lamar first got married in 2011, and they seemed to be off to a great start in their relationship. When recounting the start of their relationship, Lamar said that Sherri made it clear to him from the start that she wanted to have a baby.
In fact, he said that she practically wanted a family since the moment they first met back in November 2009. Lamar said that just two days after they first met, they had a six-hour phone conversation, which he claimed was a marathon of questions.
Sherri apparently grilled him about whether or not he wanted to start a family — something that he constantly assured her that he did. He also claimed that Sherri wanted her son Jeffrey, who she had with her previous husband, to have a sibling.
Just after one year of dating, the two of them got engaged, which was something that Lamar allegedly felt somewhat pressured into doing. But they were madly in love, and he still wanted to be with her, so he moved in with her in New York. Sherri had supposedly also made it clear to him that she didn’t want to be intimate until they were married.
And according to Lamar, the plan was always to get married and immediately have a baby. Once they finally tied the knot, they went straight into trying IVF, but they were unsuccessful, as Sherri didn’t have any viable eggs.
Sherri and Lamar Found a Surrogate
Lamar remembered that moment and said that Sherri was sobbing and felt like less of a woman because she couldn’t give him a child. But they still wanted a family, so they resorted to plan B, which was to get a surrogate — something that they both paid and searched for.
They even used facial recognition software to find a surrogate who would match Sherri’s facial characteristics as much as possible. It seemed like Sherri was extremely excited. She even told the Tom Joyner Morning Show about finding a surrogate so that they could have a baby.
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But then, when the surrogate was five months pregnant, Sherri and Lamar separated, and Sherri claimed that she no longer wanted anything to do with him or the baby. Lamar said that he was shocked when she said that she just couldn’t do it anymore and that he needed to take the baby and move to LA.
While the two of them had relationship problems, Lamar claimed that they didn’t really fight all that much. He added Sherri needed to confront any issues they did have head-on and not run away from them. At that point, Lamar said that he even looked through Sherri’s email and saw that she already had a lawyer on retainer.
And allegedly, in one email from the lawyer, they claimed that they could get her out of the surrogacy contract. According to the divorce papers, Lamar was actually the one to file for the separation. In addition to that, he also requested full legal and physical custody of their unborn baby.
Lamar Requested Full Custody of the Unborn Baby
Lamar requested that Sherri only get reasonable visitation rights and asked for an order that prevented her from interfering with the baby at all. He also asked for spousal support and for Sherri to pay all of his attorney fees and that their prenup be invalidated based on fraud.
And this is where the story really starts to get interesting. Sherri claimed that Lamar has been seeking money from her for years. Although Lamar alleged that he always wanted Sherri to be part of his son’s life, it doesn’t really add up when you look at the court documents.
Why would Lamar request full custody of the child with minor visitation rights for Sherri if he actually wanted Sherri to play an active role in the baby’s life? On top of that, why would he want the prenup to be invalidated, and what evidence did he have of fraud?
Anyone can have a difficult marriage and end up getting a divorce, and it doesn’t mean that the marriage was fraudulent. Although it’s clear that Lamar felt wronged by the situation, it’s hard to take everything he says as the complete truth.
Following the divorce, Sherri fought to keep her name off of the birth certificate once the baby was born. But unfortunately for her, a judge ruled against it and claimed that not only did she have to keep her name on the birth certificate, but she also had to pay child support.
Sherri Was Accountable for Child Support
Even though Sherri doesn’t have any genetic connection to the child, the fact that she helped pay for and pursue the surrogate was enough to hold her accountable. Strangely enough, though, not long after the judge decided Sherri needed to pay, Lamar took her back to court to demand a higher payment.
But this time, the judge ruled in her favor, since Lamar had actually brought her to court in California, which didn’t have jurisdiction over the case. After the win, Sherri’s representatives said they hoped Lamar would finally stop his useless attempts to get money from her.
They apparently hoped that he would seek a real job and take care of his child just like any other parent would. While both of them paint a pretty negative picture of the other, there’s still a question as to why Sherri left in the first place.
Sherri struggled with severe trust issues after the relationship she was in before Lamar, which also seemed to creep into their relationship. On top of that, it’s possible that Sherri felt like Lamar was only using her for her money, as he was a stay-at-home husband who didn’t work at the time.
Lamar even admitted that Sherri would constantly ask him to get a job and contribute. But it seemed like he just felt like it was too difficult to find work and would rather spend his time taking care of the house. While we don’t really know this for sure, it is also possible that Sherri felt like Lamar was trying to trap her with the baby.
What Really Happened Between Sherri and Lamar?
Although she wanted a baby at first, Lamar might have shown her some less-than-attractive behavior throughout their marriage. She might’ve started to get really scared when the surrogate was actually pregnant and it was REALLY happening.
This theory would also explain his constant attempts to get higher child support payments. Then again, this really is all just speculation. With all this being said, it seems clear that there were some deep-rooted issues in that relationship.
