Seeking Sister Wife stars Marcus Epps, his wife Taryn Lindsey, and their fiancée India Rosser did an Instagram live after they made their debut on Monday night’s episode. The trio seemed pleased overall with how they were portrayed, but they did clarify a few things that were either misleading or just plain wrong.
When Seeking Sister Wife viewers meet the Epps family, we are introduced to the three minors living in the house. (That wording may seem a bit awkward, but it had to include the fact that one of the kids living with the Epps isn’t the child of either of the three adults. Actually, it’s four adults — but more on that below.)
The children that are blood related are 9-year-old Kielyn and 15-year-old Tristen. Kielyn is the daughter of Marcus and Taryn. Tristen is Marcus’ son from a previous relationship. Tristen’s 16-year-old best friend JB is also living in the Orlando, Florida house with the family.
Marcus Epps actually has 10 children
During the Epps family live stream, they are asked if they think show producers are trying to portray them in an inaccurate way. “Are they trying to paint a different picture?” Marcus responds. “I don’t know. So far, everything’s looked pretty accurate.”
Marcus then reveals that there was one aspect of what viewers saw that’s a bit off. “Y’all know how many kids I have. I have ten children.” Marcus does’t reveal the children’s ages, but that could just be because no one asked.
So why would show producers leave out that bit of info? “They felt like it was too much to explain,” Taryn says.
Marcus talks a bit more about being a proud pop of ten kids and counting:
My children are all over the world…Most men out here in this lifestyle, they’re pimpin’ all over the world. Not me. I’m chasing children all over the world! You hear me? But for real, shout out to all my babies that are in here [watching the live stream]. There may be some of them in here. Y’all know I love y’all. We love y’all.
Taryn was 36 while filming, not 38
Later in the live video, Taryn clarifies an error made by Seeking Sister Wife producers. “They said I was 38,” Taryn says, “but I literally just turned 37 like last week.” She points out that she was 36 when filming for the show.
It’s not too difficult to fact check Taryn’s age, and she is indeed 37. Her birthday was June 2. Marcus was born roughly three months later, meaning his displayed age of 36 was correct.
Taryn reveals on the show that she was a junior in college when she first met Marcus, who was a freshman at the time. Why was she two years ahead when they are the same age?
According to the couple’s LinkedIn profiles, Taryn attended Youngstown State University from 2003-2007 and Marcus attended from 2004-2008. That seems to split the difference right down the middle. Even so, there are probably numerous scenarios in which Taryn could have technically been a junior and Marcus a freshman at a particular time.
Marcus was married before Taryn
Why did Marcus start college one year later than Taryn? The answer to that question could be because Marcus was busy getting married!
Ohio court records indicate that Marcus married another woman in December of 2003. That was the year before Marcus started college. He would have just turned 18 at the time.
It’s unclear when (or if) Marcus and his first wife got legally divorced, or if they share any children. I would assume that they split prior to Marcus having sex with a college friend of Taryn’s — a relationship that he described as casual. It will be interesting to see if Marcus’ first marriage comes up on the show, or perhaps in a future post-episode live stream.
Another interesting question that remains unanswered is derived by doing simple math. Marcus and Taryn met and started dating when they were 19 or 20, which was 16 years ago. Marcus’ son Tristen was 15 when filming. Was his mother pregnant when Marcus and Taryn started seeing each other?
Marcus and Taryn’s daughter Kielyn is 9. So when did Marcus have his other eight children? Were they the result of him “juggling five to ten women” while being married to Taryn? And how many mothers are there?
#SeekingSisterWife Marcus Epps is no stranger to public controversy. He's an elected official with a political career that has been peppered with scandals including alleged tax evasion, a fire, and a murder at an illegal after-hours club in Cleveland!? https://t.co/VfTUYXMzAr
— Starcasm (@starcasm) June 14, 2022
Are Marcus and Taryn legally married?
Marcus describes Taryn as his wife and India as his fiancée on the show. However, Taryn goes by her maiden name online. There are also numerous legal documents in which Taryn uses her maiden name. So, are Marcus and Taryn legally married or not?
I searched court records and could find no marriage license or certificate filed for Marcus and Taryn in their home county, or in a couple other counties they have lived in. However, that isn’t proof at all that they are not married.
The Lake County News-Herald shared some information about Marcus in October of 2019 when he was running for Euclid City Council. The information was from a questionnaire filled out by the candidates themselves. Here are a couple of Marcus’ answers regarding his marital status and his children:
Marital status and name of spouse: Married.
Do you have children? Yes. 3 that attend Euclid Schools.
The skeletons continue to dance out of the closet of #SeekingSisterWife star Marcus Epps. In addition to his numerous political scandals, he was also arrested on multiple domestic violence charges in 2008! Get all the details: https://t.co/NlbDOIxcVQ pic.twitter.com/xdArWG7I6S
— Starcasm (@starcasm) June 20, 2022
Who is the older woman living with the Epps?
Seeking Sister Wife viewers may have spotted a walker in the Epps’ Orlando home. During the family’s live stream, an older woman can be seen using the walker in the background as she leaves through the sliding glass doors. She later re-enters.
Marcus refers to her as a grandmother or something similar, but it’s unclear if she is his mother or the mother of either Taryn or India. Or perhaps she is the grandmother of another child?
The Epps do seem to be quite transparent about most everything, so I assume they’d be willing to answer most all of the questions raised in this post if asked. We will certainly keep an eye out and try to update if that happens!
Meanwhile, be sure to follow along with the Epps family on Seeking Sister Wife as Marcus shows off his woman juggling skills by dating two potential sister wives! If you’re curious to meet the two wives, they jumped in on the Epps family live stream towards the end. Here’s the full video:
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
