Every Development Since Reesa Teesa’s ‘Who TF Did I Marry?’ TikTok Series Went Viral
The viral 50-part TikTok series “Who TF Did I Marry?” has remained the internet’s main obsession since its creator Reesa Teesa uploaded the first batch of videos on Feb. 14, detailing her marriage to and split from a pathological liar.
The series, which clocks in at more than six hours long, took off thanks to Reesa Teesa’s engaging style and the truly dramatic nature of her story. Over 50 videos, she talked about how her relationship with a man she nicknamed “Legion” began and then fell apart as she caught him in multiple lies about his finances, family, and more. See a breakdown of the series here. As of March 1, the TikTok series has garnered over 437.4 million collective views on TikTok, and prompted several other creators to post videos recapping Reesa Teesa’s story or reacting to the events.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]In her first-ever interview after her booming viral fame, she told NBC News that she was not prepared for the amount of attention she received from the video series. “Whether you agree with me and my decisions or not, I wanted it to create conversation about the things that we ignore because we want what we want or we’re in a hurry,” she said.
Reesa Teesa added that sharing the story made her feel less alone in having gone through this experience. “I’ve started giving myself grace as I’m reading messages from other women who’ve gone through the same thing,” she said. “Because for the longest time after the story was released, it did feel like I was the only one who fell for this.”
For Reesa Teesa, the last couple weeks have been a whirlwind. Many people go viral for wild stories on TikTok, but hers exceeded expectations with its runtime and number of views. Now, brands are looking to work with her and she’ll appear on Monday’s episode of The Tamron Hall Show. She’s kept viewers updated about her life, including sharing her plans to go to Europe, a pointed dig at Legion, who she says lied to her about plans to take her to London. And after internet sleuths uncovered Legion’s real identity, he spoke out about how he felt about the series. Here’s everything that’s happened since “Who TF Did I Marry?” went viral.
Reesa Teesa plans her own European vacation
In a video uploaded on Feb. 21, Reesa Teesa shared that she will be going on a trip to London and Paris, soliciting recommendations from her followers. Brands, including Marriott, beauty company Kitsch, Smashbox Cosmetics, Tinder, Adidas, Microsoft, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Five Below, flooded her comments section, offering to help with the trip.
Legion speaks out, kind of
Reesa Teesa purposefully left Legion’s real name out of the story to respect his privacy. But that did not stop viewers from figuring out who he was and reaching out to him. Legion has allegedly shared his side of the story with a TikTok creator, though that interview has yet to be released. A clip posted to the account’s TikTok shows Legion attempting to discredit Reesa’s story. TMZ also reports that Legion says he is considering legal action against his ex-wife.
Reesa Teesa has the support of Legion’s family
In a video recorded on Feb. 26, Reesa Teesa shared with her still-growing audience that Legion’s brother spoke with her and asked her to clarify some details of the story. He said that he has not spoken with Legion since their father’s funeral, where the brothers got into an altercation. She said he asked her to emphasize that Legion’s family tried to get him psychiatric help. “At one point, they were taking him to different therapists and psychologists,” she says in the video. “He’s been diagnosed with bipolar [disorder] and schizophrenia. I did not know this.” She said Legion’s brother told her that their father came out of retirement to help pay for his medication and as he got older, he refused to take them.
She ended by saying that Legion’s brother told her that she has the family’s support.
Will “Who TF Did I Marry?” come to the big screen?
The instant viral nature of the story has already seen calls for it to be adapted into a TV series or movie. According to Jacob Noti-Victor, an associate professor of law at Cardozo Law School, Reesa Teesa should take certain steps before developing her story, including ensuring that studios and production companies get a copyright license from her to create media from her story. “It seems like the kind of thing where [reputable producers] would want to collaborate with her and make sure that she was involved somewhat rather than just trying to extract as many factual details as possible,” he says. “Without that, you would run afoul of her copyright and would be losing a lot if you don’t work with her on that.”