Source: WENN

A couple of weeks ago our associate editor, Veronica Wells, reported on the scandalous story involving Sesame Street actor Roscoe Orman, who played Mr. Gordon on the popular television program. According to reports, the 68-year-old actor left his partner of 40 years, Sharon Ormon, for a much younger woman by the name of Kimberley Lamarque, whom Sharon says he was carrying on an affair with. He married Lamarque not long after he left Sharon, who gave birth to four of his children. Here’s the kicker: He never married Sharon. To make matters worse, when Roscoe picked up and left her back in 2010, she was left dead broke and in danger of losing the home that the pair once shared to foreclosure. My heart really went out to Sharon. After investing four decades into their relationship and giving that man four children, she walked away with nothing more than what a jump-off walks away with after her man of choice decides that he’s through with her.

A few days later, I reported on a follow-up story. Roscoe’s jilted lover revealed that her ex’s new wife wasn’t the only woman he’d cheated on her with, expressing that he frequently stepped out during their relationship. She also dropped the bomb that Roscoe also had a child outside of their relationship. To make matters worse, she found out about Roscoe’s love child while she was pregnant. Yeah, she and the other woman were carrying his children at the same time. Upon hearing this, my well of sympathy for Ms. Sharon dried up a bit. Make that a lot. After all of that, why stay? When asked why she never left Roscoe despite his filthy, philandering ways, she responded:

“I wasn’t going to jump up and leave my family.”

And this brings me to my point. My vivid imagination took me to those sleepless nights where Sharon probably waited up for Roscoe to come home. I imagine her sad and disappointed face when the paternity suit papers arrived in the mail. I imagined her sitting at her kitchen table, agonizing over the details of the suit, wondering how the man that she thought she knew so well could hurt her in such a way. Then, my mind flashed to an image of her desperately holding onto the love that they once shared, telling herself that if she holds on, things just might get better. As you can see, they never did. In fact, after dogging her out all of these years, he got up and left.

While every situation is unique, most serial cheaters don’t just up and decide to stop cheating to do better, and in my opinion, simply waiting around for them to do so seems a bit foolish. I am not saying once a cheater, always a cheater, because I believe that people that really desire a change have the ability to do it. But, I am saying that if a woman simply rolls over and accepts her man’s cheating ways, why would he stop? He’s getting the best of both worlds. The Mashonda-Swizz-Beatz-Alicia Keys love triangle is another situation that comes to mind. Swizz allegedly cheating with Alicia was really only the final nail in the coffin of his marriage with Mashonda, but it certainly was not the first time he cheated on her, seeing as how he had a little girl outside of their relationship. She stuck around and what did he do? He dogged her out and eventually left her for what he considered to be a “better” prospect. A rather extreme example is the tumultuous relationship between Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta stars Stevie J and Mimi Faust. From the outside looking in, it appeared that MiMi stuck with Stevie despite his cheating (and impregnating) ways for so long that he eventually became bolder with it. And eventually, the fact that she knew he was cheating on her no longer mattered to him.

I understand that there’s probably a lot that went on behind close doors between all three of these couples that we as the public may never know about, but the point that I am trying to make is that tolerating infidelity (from both males and females), only seems to breed more cheating.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a serial cheater?

Follow Jazmine on Twitter @jazminedenise.

Source(s): NY Post, WENN

Last week we told you that Roscoe Orman a.k.a Elmo’s right-hand-man Mr. Gordon from popular children’s television program, Sesame Street left his partner of 40 years and married a much younger woman. During an interview, Sharon revealed that Roscoe left her destitute, to be evicted from the New Jersey townhouse they once shared. To make matter worse, she says that he’s refused to have anything to do with their children since he left. Now, Sharon is ringing the alarm letting the public know that this isn’t the first time that the Sesame Street star has been unfaithful.

In an interview with the NY Post, Sharon dropped the bomb that she received legal papers in the mail 27 years ago, while she was pregnant with their third child, alleging that her then-partner fathered another child.

“I was pregnant with my third kid. We were ecstatic. Then a paternity suit arrived in the mail. I’m pregnant, and another woman in a different state is pregnant at the same time,” said Sharon.

According to the Post, court records indicate that child support complaints were filed against Roscoe in New Jersey and Washington on behalf of a woman named Deborah Hill. A 1988 article by the Post also reported on Roscoe’s child support woes, revealing that he was required to pay Deborah $5,000 in back child support for their daughter Kalah, as well as monthly payments of $200.

Sharon adds that Deborah was on welfare after she got pregnant. She also says that Roscoe paid child support to Deborah until Kalah turned 18 and then put her through college. Sharon and Roscoe remained a couple through all of this and even had another daughter together.

You’re probably wondering why she stuck around. When asked by her interviewer why she never left, she replied:

“I wasn’t going to jump up and leave my family.”

Too bad Roscoe didn’t share those sentiments.

Remember Willie Dynamite, the pimp from the blaxploitation film? No? What about Gordon from Sesame Street? Of course you do. Well, turns out that Gordon, whose real name is Roscoe Orman, might be less like Mr. Gordon and more like that pimp Willie. Orman spent 40 years with Sharon Orman though the two never married. (No word as to how she got that last name without being married to him.) In 2010, after 40 years and four children, Sharon found pictures of a younger woman on Roscoe’s phone.  That woman was Kimberley Lamarque the woman who would become Roscoe’s wife after just two years.

Ain’t that something.

Since then, Sharon has said that Roscoe has had no contact with either she or their children. As you might imagine, Sharon is not happy about his disappearance. Here’s what she told The New York Post:

“I want people to know he’s been living a double life,” Sharon told us. “I gave up my career to raise the kids and never cheated on him. I am the one who made him a ‘Sesame Street’ dad. This is what I get after 40 years? You can leave me now?”  

And she does have a good reason to be upset. Sharon says that she as evicted from the New Jersey townhouse they once shared. Now, she’s arguing that she’s entitled to spousal support and has filed a complaint to that affect in the New Jersey Superior Court. She says she was named his wife on mortgages, deeds and tax filings. Sharon has no savings and no financial clout to start over.

Isn’t this a tragic story? As sorry as we feel for Sharon, it’s a shame she didn’t think to one ask for some type of ring or commitment or to stack that Sesame Street money while they were living together for four decades.

What do you make of this story, does Sharon deserve spousal support?

Image is everything, especially when it comes to children.  The images created to influence and entertain impressionable young minds help kids define who they are.  So when they see someone who looks like them on screen, teaching them a lesson or explaining a worry away, it leaves a huge  impression.   Today the number of African-American characters on television show just how far we’ve come.  The Atlanta Post has gathered a few who are leaving their mark on future generations.

Kevin Clash

Kevin Clash is the man behind the monster known as Elmo.  The incredibly popular “Sesame Street” mainstay was Clash’s first main character on the children’s program, but he’s been a part of the show since 1984.  He took over as Elmo upon his formal introduction in November of 1985. Since then Clash has been awarded 9 Daytime Emmys for his performance as Elmo and Hoot the Owl. In 2006 he wrote an autobiography titled,  ”My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud”.