Finding love after her split from Ne-Yo didn’t happen overnight for Monyetta Shaw, but now the Atlanta Exes star is happier than ever — and ready to talk about her fiancé, Heath, publicly for the first time.
“Honestly, he was such a good dude and a good person. I knew, I want to say almost immediately [that he was The One],” Shaw, 40, gushes exclusively on Us Weekly’s “Hot Hollywood” podcast, noting he also has two kids. “He’s the CEO of his companies, and even still he makes time for his kids. I would literally see him rearrange his schedules, have huge deals on the table, and he’s like, ‘No, I have to go see my daughter, and I have to make sure this is done.’ That honestly, was one of the main things that made me be like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Just the love that he had for his children, first and foremost.”
The Keep It Classy author, who shares daughter Madilyn, 9, and son Mason, 8, with Ne-Yo, 40, added that the couple bonded over their respective children.
“It’s so awesome. And I put my kids first, and that’s just like ‘I’m sorry, this is what it is, you have to accept it.’ To see him [also] do that, and live that, and just still handle his business, and be there for me, I was like, ‘Oh, wow,’” she told Us. “So it was pretty soon on, I didn’t know for sure, but I was like, ‘This is someone I could see myself with.’ And then when the kids met him, and everyone met him, and they adore him, I’m like, ‘OK, well, yeah.’”
Shaw and Ne-Yo called it quits in 2013. The actress told Us that she and the musician have had to “strategize” while coparenting their kids, especially when it comes to talking to their kids about police brutality, recent news events and the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We did a little strategy session about it,” she explained. “We just said we were just going to take the approach of just breaking it down the simplest way possible. And if they have questions, let’s answer them without trying to scare them.”
Overall, Shaw told Us that coparenting has “been even better” in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic. “He’s home more than he’s ever been and gets them every weekend after I help with their virtual learning during the kids’ school week,” she explained. “The kids absolutely love it. It’s been a blessing in disguise during these trying times.”
After his split from Shaw, Ne-Yo married Crystal Smith and welcomed sons Shaffer, 4, and Roman, 2. While Shaw told Us that she and the “So Sick” crooner agreed they were done having children before Ne-Yo met Smith, she’s now considering having more kids with her fiancé.
“It comes up in our conversations a lot,” Shaw told Us. “Because he has two girls and he wants a boy. And I’m like, ‘OK. Yeah. So now it’s getting real.’ So we are discussing things, and I’m deciding now, honestly. And I’m getting older … I just turned a big 4-0. So we’re going to have to figure some things out.”