PR + Plot Twists™: How Apryl Jones Flipped the Script on Her Own Life

Redemption in the Messy Middle of Healing

There’s a strange magic in the way some stories go viral and spread. It doesn’t take much these days; all it takes is a headline or the right names/people involved and WAALAAH, you have your viral moment for a person’s entire narrative to get rewritten. In the world of PR, we call this “PR Crisis-mode” and a need to control the narrative. But real life is always messier than a PR stunt.

I thought about this while watching Carlos King’s recent sit-down with R&B crooner, “O’Marion’s” Apryl Jones. Yes, that one from the Love & Hip Hop Hollywood. If you’ve only followed her story from the outside, you probably think you know how it goes: she, a reality TV star, in a celebrity relationship, and that infamous plot twist—having the nerve to be in a relationship with her children’s father’s bandmate. Now, that was a mouthful… 😖😬

The press and social media had a field day. Betrayal! Scandal! His followers, her followers, and even the bots predictably lost their minds. But here’s the thing nobody talks about: behind-the-scenes doesn’t stop at the plot twist.

What I truly loved about this interview was how Carlos King handled it and how poised she was about all of it. It wasn’t about digging for dirt or trying to squeeze out a viral soundbite. He sat in those moments with Apryl, with compassion and empathy in the way he listened. He gave her room to breathe — and plenty of compliments — maybe that was it too. But whatever it was, it was great to allow her to advocate for being human, admitting to her mistakes, regrets and her growth. We need more of that — none of us are without our stains.

This is the part PR doesn’t usually show you. In the headlines, people become characters in a plotline, frozen at the moment of the “twist.” But real transformation happens in the sacred quiet, when no one’s watching.

It got me thinking about the plot twists in my own life—those moments when everything changed, and not always for the better from the looks of things, but I’ve learned not to trust what it looks like - ever.

I’ve had my share of brutal betrayals and I’ve made my own mistakes, and plenty of people have misunderstood my POV—most of them only catching the highlight reel.

There were times, especially when I slipped into victim mode and handed over my power, that I felt trapped inside someone else’s narrative, playing a part I never asked for.

Here’s the secret: every good story has to have a plot twist. But a plot twist isn’t the end—it’s just the turn. You get to decide what comes next. I believe that’s what Apryl Jones is doing, and it’s what I had to learn to do, too.

It’s easy to get trapped in the story that’s told about you. It’s harder—and braver—to do the inner work it takes to move past the pain, to honor your own journey, and to decide what comes next.

So if your life has taken a plot twist the world didn’t see coming, if you’ve been misunderstood or miscast in someone else’s story, hear me: you’re not done yet. The headline isn’t the whole story. You’re the one holding the pen.

And if you want to know how I made peace with my own plot twists, how I learned to lay down other people’s scripts and pick up my own, I poured all of that into my new memoir, CHOSEN: The Sacred Journey to Wholeness Before ‘I Do’.

Every good story has a plot twist, but not every plot twist gets a redemption arc—unless you write it yourself.

What’s the plot twist that changed your story? And how are you deciding to write your next chapter?