Mother: Sheree (50)

Daughter: Destinee  (29)

Location: Atlanta, Georgia 

A Double Shot of Mama

Sheree and her daughter Destinee have always had a special, extremely close relationship. On the day after her 21st birthday, Sheree gave birth to Destinee, kicking off a ride-or-die relationship that many of their friends and family describe as outlandish and too close for adults. Because Sheree was so young when she had Destinee, she always thought of her daughter as her mini-me. To this day, there is nothing that these two beautiful women do not share in common: they love going out to dance at the club together, they go to strip clubs together, they have matching tattoos, they have dated NFL teammates at the same time, they are both in inter-racial relationships, they were both high school cheerleaders, they both have won booty shaking competitions… the list goes on and on. Despite having four children total, Sheree feels that she has the closest relationship to her first-born. They consult with each other about every life decision before involving anyone else, a habit that causes rifts with other family members but ultimately everyone knows that this is just how Sheree and Destinee are.

When Destinee turned 21 Sheree took her out to the strip club, and from that moment their relationship transitioned from mom and daughter to the best of friends. Sheree proudly proclaims that she is helping to raise Destinee’s daughter, Harper (one years old) regardless of the fact that Destinee has a man in her life! Destinee’s husband, Conner, gets frustrated with how close and how integrated Sheree is in their lives… but what can he do about it? After all, if not for her, their relationship likely would have never blossomed in the way it did: when Destinee and Conner first started dating in Austin (where they were both living at the time) Sheree took it upon herself to pay them a visit. It was on this trip that Conner expressed concern about dating Destinee, he felt that he didn’t have enough going for him to make her happy. Sheree sat him down and over the course of a few hours, convinced him that he is the right man for her daughter. They’ve been together ever since. All thanks to mom’s meddling! 

However, this level of involvement can and does backfire on the couple. Recently, when Destinee and Conner had a fight, Conner stormed out of the house and didn’t come home until after midnight. When he woke up the next day with a flurry of texts from his mother-in-law accusing him of being an absentee husband, he was livid at his wife. How dare Destinee involve her mother in their relationship? Unfortunately, for him, Conner can’t have it both ways. To this day, mom butts in on all aspects of her daughter’s and his life. She advises Destinee on how to ask for what she wants in a marriage, how to parent a toddler and what kind of bra to buy for nursing. Most importantly, Sheree is here to ensure that Destinee doesn’t make any of the same mistakes that she did while she was married the first time.

Destinee and Conner have exciting news: They’re six months pregnant with baby number two! Yes, twice the motherhood and twice the involvement coming from Sheree! Destinee is excited but nervous about the overwhelming amount of work it will be caring for two infants. That means that she’s going to be relying on her mother now more than ever. It’ll be a big change for everyone, but especially for Conner as his life is further entangled into his wife and mother-in-law’s life

As if this baby wasn’t big enough news there’s also another big decision weighing heavily over Destinee and Conner. The couple is strongly considering moving back to Austin. That’s where the couple met and fell in love and where they have plenty of friends. This is a decision that Sheree absolutely refuses to accept. In her mind, this will not be happening. Sheree and Destinee cannot live without each other in their lives on a daily basis. In the end, of course, Destinee and Conner will have to make the decision for themselves, but much like most other big decisions in Destinee’s life, her mother’s input holds a lot of weight.

Sheree and Destinee’s large and very tight-knit family all have their specific grievances with their tight bond. Andy, Sheree’s reserved, Canadian-born husband of 6 ½ years, wonders regularly if they will ever have more than a few minutes of alone time together without Sheree and Destinee hopping on Facetime or talking on the phone (it is unlikely). Ray Buchanan Sr., Sheree’s retired NFL star ex-husband, who is still involved in many aspects of his ex-wife and kids’ lives (and even lives down the street from Sheree), admits that it is hard for people not in the inner circle to guess who is mother and who is daughter. Sheree and Ray, although they are exes still have to co-parent their shared children. They have a good and fun relationship, although they clearly see why their marriage didn’t work.

Meanwhile, the middle two sons, Ray Jr (27) and Baylan (23) admit that Sheree and Destinee’s relationship makes them jealous as they don’t get nearly as much attention paid to them as they would like. For Ray Jr, that’s somewhat okay as he has a wife and three kids of his own. But Baylan is single and without kids, and he craves a level of attention from his mother that she isn’t able to give. Jade, 19, and the youngest of the kids, is in the process of joining her mom and older sister as a third pea-in-their-pod. Sheree admits that she is smothering Jade more and more each day, something that seems to cause some jealousy with Destinee. But with Destinee’s baby number two on the way, perhaps it’s time for her to recalibrate and focus on her own family! Only time will tell. 

Destinee and Conner are looking forward to a big baby gender reveal party coming up very soon, followed by the welcoming of their second child in January. With Conner pushing hard for a move to Austin, and Sheree pushing even harder for them to stay, the baby’s arrival will add an extra layer of difficulty into the decision-making process. New family members aside, Destinee and Sheree have been working on forming and developing a party and event planning business, an endeavor they both want to succeed, because neither of them ever want to have a 9-5 job! In their classic tradition of following in her mother’s footsteps, Destinee believes strongly that if Sheree never had to have a “normal” job, then neither should she. On top of everything, Sheree is getting a breast reduction. She says that they’re too big and wants to go smaller. Guess who’s going to be at every consultation and helping mom in recovery?