Jeannie Mai Reflects on the ‘Gift’ of Being a Single Mom After Divorce from Rapper Jeezy: ‘You Learn How to Trust Yourself’

Jeannie Mai is loving motherhood.

Appearing on the Monday, March 24 episode of chatshow Sherri, the TV personality, 46, opened up about being a single mom to her 3-year-old daughter Monaco, whom she shares with ex-husband Jeezy, 47.

“I had no idea that I would love being a mom this much,” she said tearfully. “I went all the way to 40 years old and said, ‘I’m good, I love spending money on myself. I love booking a room for one,’ and now I can’t even imagine life without her.”

She continued, “Most of us didn’t get the childhood that we wanted and our parents did the best with what they could but now I say that I do have the childhood I wanted because I am reliving it through Monaco.”

“I’m redoing everything that should have been done through Monaco,” Mai added.

The former The Real host, who was married to Jeezy from 2021 until their divorce was finalized in June 2024, then opened up about the "gift" of single parenthood.

“You don’t ideally think to have a child and have that whole responsibility to yourself but...you learn how to trust yourself," Mai noted.

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“You learn that you good, you got it, you know instinctively what to do,” Mai continued. “You don’t have to check with anybody else; you know exactly what your daughter needs in love. You know exactly how your children need to be seen and heard.”

The mother of one added, “So I’m reparenting myself through Monaco and I’m learning that I always had it, always had what I needed.”

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When she shared a clip from the show via Instagram, Mai’s pals and former The Real cohosts, Adrienne Bailon and Tamar Braxton took to the comments to gush about the star as a mother. 

“You are an amazing mother. You are blessed to have each other. 💕,” Bailon, 41, wrote, while Braxton, 48, added, “Told you,,,you would be a great mom ❤️.”

Mai’s comments about being a single parent come after she revealed to PEOPLE that she’s been dating herself following her divorce.

"I've just been taking myself out," Mai said at the WWD Style Awards in January. "I feel like right now, I'm just celebrating all the things that I love and that love me and that feels like I'm dating myself,” she said.

Mai and Jeezy’s divorce came nine months after the rapper filed in September 2023 after two-and-a-half years of marriage. 

According to his filing — which also noted that he sought joint legal custody of their daughter — previously obtained by PEOPLE, the two were “living in a bona fide state of separation” at the time, and their marriage was "irretrievably broken" with "no hope for reconciliation."