AN HOUR BEFORE her Good Morning America interview, Reesa Teesa is texting her lawn guy. Focusing on the grass and shrubs back home in Atlanta is helping her "not freak out about this," she says while riding the elevator to hair and makeup. "This"-appearing on the country's No. 1-rated morning show, watched by millions of people-"is terrifying." The door opens backstage, where Robin Roberts is walking by. The anchor pulls Teesa to the side. "Thank you for having the courage to tell your story," she says. "Don't make me cry," Teesa responds. The TikToker then drops her luggage off in the greenroom, where she tries to calm herself with deep breaths: "My whole prayer right now is like, 'God, please, I don't want to sound like a babbling fool.""
Reesa Teesa, whose real name is Tareasa Johnson, is adjusting to her new reality as a folk hero for scorned women. Last month, the 39-year-old was still angry over an ugly divorce when she Stitched a TikTok video asking, "What's a f*cked up thing that your ex did to you?" Teesa told the internet that hers, a man she calls Legion, turned out to be a "pathological liar" who made up family members and forged documents in an attempt to buy a house. "In the end," she says in the video, "the only thing that turned out to be true was his name and his date of birth." Commenters said the story sounded like a Lifetime movie. So Teesa decided to record more videos. The result is a 50-part, nearly eight-hour series. As of press time, she has gone from 8,000 followers to 3.7 million, and part one of the saga has 39 million views.
This story is from the March 11-24, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
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This story is from the March 11-24, 2024 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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