This Was Eva Marcille's Biggest Fear with Changing Daughter Marley Rae's Last Name
The RHOA mom opened up about the emotional decision to give Marley Michael Sterling's surname.
Eva Marcille is a proud mama of three. The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member has sons Michael Todd Sterling Jr. (born April 2018) and Maverick (born September 2019) with husband Michael Sterling, and also has 5-year-old daughter Marley Rae from a previous relationship with ex Kevin McCall. And while Michael Jr. and Maverick bear the Sterling last name, Eva felt strongly that she also wanted Marley to share the same surname as the rest of the family, which she discussed during the Sunday, January 19 episode of RHOA.
In the episode, Eva anticipated Marley's upcoming name change. "She will officially be a Sterling, and no longer be a McCall. Oh my God, I'm so excited and nervous and terrified, all at the same time. I'm about to cry thinking about it; it's such a big deal," she said.
Eva further explained that Marley doesn't know that Michael isn't her biological father. Michael said he has been a father to Marley since she was 15 months old, and Eva has full custody, so Michael filed for a legal name change for Marley.
The RHOA model described Marley's biological father, Kevin, as "completely uninvolved in her life, by choice in certain areas and by force in others," and notes that Marley was two months old when they split. Eva has previously been candid about experiencing domestic violence in their relationship, and so she said, "My fear is, what if he comes to court?" Michael, who is an attorney, assured her that he would "argue my case."
Later in the episode, as Eva and Michael prepared to head to the courthouse, she shared that she had received news her ex had possibly come to their city and she feared he would show up. However, despite her worries, the ruling was successful and Marley's name was legally changed to Marley Rae Sterling. They later celebrated with a pizza party and discussed the next step for their family: Michael adopting Marley.
Catch Eva and her beautiful family on RHOA Sundays at 8/7c. Preview what's to come for the rest of the season, below.
