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We’ve been seeing a lot of Marlo Hampton on this season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and her character has been suspicious from the beginning given her reputation with wealthy men—and the criminal background that includes seven arrests, which she revealed on Sunday’s episode.

Marlo has been using the “I was young” excuse to justify attacking a woman in the club, receiving an aggravated battery charge, and violating parole, but the sister of Marlo’s victim has spoken out, saying she prefers Marlo not even mention her sister’s name or make reference to her, considering she committed suicide six years after the incident.

Immediately people assumed Marlo’s attack, which the woman says left her sister disfigured, is what caused the women to take her life, but Marlo says that accusation isn’t fair. In a statement sent to the Atlanta Journal Constitution blogs she explained everything that happened:

“I am shocked and saddened to hear of the recent distortions of events and false accusations disseminated over an altercation I was involved in over a dozen years ago.  It had been my preference, out of respect for the person involved, as well as her family, to not speak about this incident publicly, but the recklessness with which the story is being manipulated has forced me to come forward.

I was in my early twenties, and what took place started out as an argument with someone who was once my friend, over the phone.  In the first incident, I was ambushed at my house and badly beaten.  Though charges were initially filed, those charges were later dropped and I filed a restraining order.  As disturbing as the carrying of a weapon may seem, it was quite common in the environment in which I was raised, and not only I, but also the person involved in the altercation, had each brought weapons to protect ourselves.  There was a confrontation, her knife dropped, mine did not.

I was arrested and convicted of aggravated battery for which I served 6 months in jail.  What is so disturbing about the false reports now circulating is that it was she, my friend, who appeared in court on my behalf and fought to reduce my sentence.

Like many people, I was deeply saddened by her untimely death – 6 years later – and shocked at the recent attempts to connect me to it.  Ultimately, it does a disservice to her and her family, to guess and draw conclusions as to her state of mind when she committed suicide.  Those reasons are obviously personal and painful and do not deserve to be speculated on for the purposes of entertainment or drawing readers to your site.  She and her family remain in my prayers.

My attorneys will be sending a cease and desist letter with a request for retraction shortly.”

It’s very unfortunate that the woman took her life for whatever reason, but it sounds like Marlo still has a little bit of that 20-year-old in her. Marlo is definitely a chameleon from the way she rubs elbows with Atlanta’s wealthy white socialites as we saw Sunday, to the way she interacts with the rest of the RHOA cast. No wonder she doesn’t want this information to get out.

Does this news change your view of Marlo and her past or did you always think she was suspect?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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