Exclusive: “To Rome For Love’s” Mercedes Talks Love Triangle, Confrontation With Diann Valentine & More
March 24, 2018
LOVE ITALIAN STYLE — Season:1 — Pictured: Mercedes Young — (Photo by: Philippe Antonello/Bravo)
“To Rome For Love’s” Season Finale Airs This Sunday Night On Bravo
“To Rome For Love’s” Mercedes lit up TV screens with her juicy love triangle between suitors Kwame and Francesco.
The show’s resident wild child – who host Diann Valentine confronted when she ditched one guy handpicked for her in order to cavort with another – said her behavior was deeply rooted in a troubled past. Mercedes said her own father, who has since passed away, had a “cornucopia” of women and children out of wedlock, and she’s watched her own married siblings have affairs.
“I didn’t just have trust issues with men,” the L.A. transplant told BOSSIP. “I had trust issues with everybody.”
The 25 year-old teacher said despite her hang ups, she hadn’t given up on love and marriage, and said her accidental love triangle with Kwame and Francesco on the show was down to her refusal to give Valentine control of her love life. But she said that she did let the guys know that they weren’t the only ones.
“It definitely kind of just – happened,” Mercedes said. “I generally don’t entertain more than one person at a time…at the end of the day, I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was playing them. I was open and honest.”
Bravo Media/ Philippe Antonello/ Ernesto Ruscio
The devout Christian said she prayed to God and asked for help in choosing the right guy, and the next day, her Ghanian boo Kwame broke things off.
“What was shown on TV was my heart conflicting with my head, and that’s something that happens a lot,” Mercedes said. “My heart was saying you need to trust the process, and my head was saying, ‘Remember what happened last time?’”
Mercedes said she’s also been jaded by the dating scene in the U.S., and that’s what spurred her to try her luck in Italy.
“I felt like everyone and their daddy is playing a game, and I was tired of it,” Mercedes explained. “I heard that black women are adored and almost worshipped in Rome. Why wouldn’t I go somewhere where I wouldn’t be honored and respected?”
She said her biggest lesson from her time in Rome is that she doesn’t have to be so controlling when it comes to planing out her life, and that she had to relax and hand over the reins to a higher power.
“At this stage in life, we don’t have to have all the answers,” Mercedes said. “I had this perfect plan in college, and I thought I had to have it all done my way. And when I realized I can’t control everything and I have to relinquish things to God – that’s when I really was like, ‘OK Lord, I see the lesson. You’re in control, not me.’”