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We’ve talked about Marie Holmes around these parts quite a few times. If you’ll recall, she’s the the North Carolina Powerball lottery winner and mother of four who bailed her fiancé, Lamar McDow, out of jail a few times since winning the lottery in early 2015. It cost her $3 million to do so. He had been in jail due to heroin trafficking charges and went back to jail after being found in possession of a gun and drug paraphernalia in her home after he was going to be arrested for violating curfew, part of the terms of his ability to be released. She bailed him out again, that time, for $6 million. Such information ended up everywhere, and Holmes found herself having to publicly defend her decision to stand by her man:
“What Y’all need to be worried about is Y’all money and not how I spend mine this is benefitting Y’all how? And no he’s no drug dealer or user but who are Y’all to judge anybody? I will definitely pray for Y’all because it’s much need…they talked about Jesus so I’m not surprised Y’all are talking about me but be blessed though…”
Despite such a big monetary win, it hasn’t been an easy year and some change for Holmes. Someone looking to help her is Iyanla Vanzant.
According to North Carolina’s CBS affiliate, in a press release from OWN, she will be one of the women living in the “House of Healing” we told you about recently. Vanzant is helping to move the women and the audience away from the idea of the “angry Black woman.” It will be a four-part, multi-week episode that will air in September. According to WWAY, Holmes will meet with Vanzant 48 hours before McDow has to go off to serve a sentence of 10 years in jail. Vanzant’s hope? To reportedly “help her cope with her new fortune before she loses it all.” That, and to help “address the misperceptions sometimes associated with African American women, their behavior and ultimately their cultural identity,” according to the press release.
Do you think Vanzant will be able to be of help to Holmes? Find out when Iyanla: Fix My Life returns on Saturday, September 10 at 9 pm ET/PT on OWN.
