Selling Sunset’s Amanza Smith says her ex-husband ‘doesn’t want to be found’ after disappearing

She learned that her NFL player ex-husband Ralph Brown had flown the coop last year while filming Netflix‘s Selling Sunset.

Now, Amanza Smith has revealed she’s ‘positive’ her ex is alive, though she has no idea where he’s hiding out.

The 43-year-old reality star opened up about the strange circumstances behind Brown’s disappearance of the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat from Tuesday.

Smith noted that things seemed to be going smoothly with Brown and their family prior to him leaving.

‘He was a great father when he was around. He was a very loyal, hands-on, dedicated, interactive father,’ she said of the professional athlete, who played for the Arizona Cardinals, the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants during his career. 

‘I know it sounds so crazy,’ Smith added.

Smith said the last time she saw Brown in the flesh was on August 26, 2019.

However, her final communication with him to date was in an email he sent her her on September 1, 2019.

‘He sent me an email, and he said, “My situation isn’t good right now. I can’t financially take care of the children. It’s not safe for them to be with me. You need to keep them until my situation changes,”‘ she recounted to host Amanda Hirsch.

The email prevented Smith from filing a missing person’s report, as Brown seemed to be saying his was fine.

She got proof that the former pro athlete was still alive when she took the step of filing for full custody of her daughter Noah, 10, and son Braker, nine.

‘I know he’s alive because we’ve had to get an attorney and file court records, because I’m trying to get full custody. And at one point he submitted something to the courts where he did a change of address. We traced it back, and it’s a P.O. Box at like, a UPS store,’ she explained.

‘So, he’s off the grid,’ she added. ‘Whatever’s going on, and I have no idea what it is, he doesn’t want to be found right now. And for me, if he doesn’t want to be found, it’s probably best that he’s away until he’s better or until he wants to come back.’

Smith and Brown previously had 50/50 custody of their children following their divorce in 2012.

Her ex’s disappearance has been particularly hard on her children, who have been cut off from their paternal family.

Smith said that Brown’s family had also been ‘unresponsive’ to her attempts to contact them.

‘Anytime I reach out to anyone I get blocked,’ she revealed, adding that her children were previously ‘very close to their grandparents, aunts and uncles.’

‘I’ve had to pick up the pieces and mend little broken hearts,’ she added. ‘But right now we’re doing good, and we’ve settled into this new reality.’

The situation isn’t completely unfamiliar to Smith, who also didn’t have a father around when she was young.

She may allowed Brown back into her children’s lives if he should return, but too much trust had been lost for things to ever go back to the way they were.

‘If he does come back, it’ll never go back to 50/50 [custody],’ she said. ‘They’re amazing kids, but they’re hurt.’

‘This is the kind of stuff that’s going to come back up later [in their lives],’ she added. ‘Braker is angry, and Noah is sad.’

On the same podcast episode, Smith revealed that Brown refused to support her family after the divorce, and she explained that he didn’t pay child support because ‘after he retired from the NFL, he blew his money.’

Smith subsequently dated actor Taye Diggs for five years until they broke up in 2018, but the actor helped support her family during their time together.