Jeannie Mai is looking to daughter Monaco as her guiding light as she navigates her divorce from Jeezy.
“Monaco? That is my North Star,” Mai, 44, shared during the Friday, October 13, episode of Sherri. “And I can definitely tell you that, I don’t know if I would handle this the same way without her.”
Mai explained that she is constantly thinking about her and Jeezy’s 22-month-old daughter while making decisions about their future.
“I’m able to look at her and I can say, ‘What would I advise you? If you were in my shoes?’ And it changes everything,” Mai told host Sherri Shepherd. “So I’m so thankful to be a mom and I’m thankful to have her.”
Shepherd, 56 — who went through a divorce with ex-husband Jeff Tarpley in 2010 and split from Lamar Sally in 2015 — noted that a child can make all the difference during a hard breakup. (Shepherd shares son Jeffrey, 18, with Tarpley.)
“You go through stuff like this, and you look at your child and you go, ‘Thank you for this gift because I needed this gift right now,’” Shepherd told Mai, who replied, “He knew that,” referring to God.
Mai added that her little girl is a constant source of light in her life. “She’s definitely a mood. She isn’t really about the kisses and hugs. But every so often she looks at me, like, ‘Where you been? I’ve been missing you,’” Mai recalled of Monaco. “That is my everything. We have this vibe when we see each other. She knows that I’ve got her.”
Us Weekly confirmed on September 15 that Jeezy, 46, (real name Jay Wayne Jenkins) filed for divorce from Mai in Georgia one day prior. The musician signed the documents on June 15, according to the filing, revealing that he and Mai “are currently living in a bona fide state of separation.”
Jeezy, who is also the father of three children from prior relationships, described his union with Mai as “irretrievably broken” with “no hope for reconciliation.”
According to the docs, Jeezy is seeking joint physical and legal custody of Monaco, and is asking that their March 2021 prenuptial agreement be “enforced” by the court.
After news broke of their split, Mai took a social media hiatus. The former Real cohost returned to Instagram on Wednesday, October 11, with a quote about recovery.
“Sometimes, you need to take a break and disconnect, to heal,” the message, written in a notebook, read. Mai added a black heart as her caption.
Mai explained to Shepherd on Friday that disconnecting has been key for her to moving forward. “I’m not gonna lie, it takes every day to just sit and be quiet in your thoughts. Take care of me,” she said on the talk show. “[I’m] just taking it day by day. Turning off everything helps to.”
