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Cyntoia Brown, the recently freed woman who was incarcerated at 16 for killing a man who sex-trafficked her, is making media rounds to promote her new book, “Free Cyntoia: My Search For Redemption In The American Prison System.”
During her press run, the 31-year-old is accompanied by her husband, Jamie Long, who she began dating while she was behind bars. Now the couple is opening up about how their relationship began.
Long first discover Cyntoia while browsing the internet.
“I was minding my business and she had been on my YouTube screen for like three days and I didn’t pay attention to it. I eventually pressed play, and I felt in my spirit to write a letter and here we are now. [God] spoke to me,” he told the hosts of TODAY.
Long explained that the Lord told him to burn the edges of the paper, which ultimately stood out to Cyntoia.
“I had never had a letter like that, and it’s crazy that something like that is what stuck out but it did. So I decided, ‘I’m gonna write him back.’ And of course he was really cute.” Brown added.
“I put the letter in the envelope and felt it in my spirit again, the Lord telling me to take it out and burn the edges, and I did it. To some people it might sound crazy but, it’s the little tedious things,” Long said about courting his forever bride.
At the time, Cyntoia didn’t know where the relationship would lead, considering she had lost hope about gaining her freedom.
“I felt it, but I really didn’t think that it was possible. Because at the time I met Jamie, all my appeals were denied,” she explained.
But Long was optimistic, and insists he would’ve married her whether she was incarcerated or free.
“If she would have been locked up, honestly to this day, I still would have married her because she is my wife and she was gonna get out of prison,” Long said.
Cyntoia and Jamie later married over the phone, under a Tennessee law that allows people to wed without being in the same room. Jamie is a Christian rapper who was previously married to a former member of Total, who warned Cyntoia that Jamie was an opportunist who would steal her money.
You can watch their interview below:
