Porsha Williams’ Ex Simon Guobadia Breaks Silence After Deportation: ‘Felt Like a Target’ ngocc

2025 has been a rough year for Simon Guobadia. He’s been battling against Real Housewives of Atlanta star Porsha Williams in divorce court. Then, he wound up getting picked up by ICE. He spent four months in a detention center before getting deported to his home country of Nigeria.

Almost immediately after getting back to Nigeria, he had to hop on a Zoom call to continue navigating his divorce. It’s been a doozy, and now, he’s opening up about the “nightmare” he’s been living.

Simon Guobadia recalls his ICE arrest before being deported

In an interview with Us Weekly, Simon opened up about his experience with ICE. Regardless of how you feel about his messy divorce from Porsha and the questionable timeline of their relationship, you have to feel a little bit of empathy for him.

Simon has been spending time in the United States since the 1980s. He obtained a green card in the 1990s, albeit under questionable circumstances. From there, his attempts to become a citizen were consistently denied.

In February 2025, he traveled overseas and tried to come back into the United States to attend a divorce hearing. Upon his return, he said “around seven agents with ICE” began questioning him. They took his laptop and cellphones and escorted him away from the gate.

This all happened a day or two before the RHOA Season 16 premiere. The timing left him questioning whether or not his high-profile divorce played a role in his arrest. He said he “felt like a target.”

“One, for sure, is the new administration and new administration policies, they’ve heightened their targets apparently as agents are waiting, looking through flight [logs] for names that may have popped up on their radar and take them into custody,” Simon noted, before shifting his sights to his ex.

“And the second one was that I expected that I’m in a contentious divorce, and it’s not just one individual I’m dealing with,” Simon noted. “I am dealing with those behind her, the powers behind her that, obviously, would like to see her succeed and ensure that the investment in this person will come to fruition. So I was not totally oblivious to the possibilities of … some interference.”

Of course, Simon can’t prove that Porsha, or someone in her orbit, tipped off ICE about his whereabouts. Either way, the outlet noted he got emotional when recalling the situation. He said it took days before ICE gave him a way to contact his family. Plus, he had to spend 23 hours a day locked inside a cell.

“I understood why people would kill themselves, but I’m too strong to do that. But I understand why people, when you [are] put in a certain mental headspace, you start to understand why people do what they do,” Simon said.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8/7c on Bravo. It streams on Hayu in the UK and Ireland.