Jeannie Mai says that being divorced is “earth-shattering” and “a wake-up call” in a new video about the labels society has given her.
In a video posted to her YouTube channel on Friday (Dec. 5) titled “divorced, 46, single…with a toddler,” Mai opens up about her thoughts about going through a divorce and dealing with the aftereffects.
“Divorce is a word you never imagine attached to your name,” she says around two minutes and 30 seconds into the video. “Not because you’re special, but because you think you know how to save something before it breaks.”
“As a divorcee, you’re always seeing people say what are the things that warn you before a divorce happens are,” she adds. “The one thing I can tell you is that nobody tells you that it’s both earth-shattering and a wake-up call. It’s because the life that you pictured disappears and the future you actually need starts calling out to you.”
After this explanation, Mai explains what she believes is difficult about divorce. “The hardest part about divorce isn’t heartbreak, it's letting go of the woman I performed, the version of me that I maintained because I was scared to admit the truth,” Mai says. “One day, you realize you’re not broken, you’re honest. And honesty is heavy. It’s freedom.”
Mai finalized her divorce from Jeezy in 2024. In November, Mai posted a video detailing how challenging the past two years have been for her and their daughter, Monaco Mai Jenkins, before explaining how her life changed for the better.
"It cracked me open and showed me everything that I've been trying to mask. I went through things that I wouldn't wish on anybody," Mai said. "The kind of pain that shakes your faith and makes you question everything. A chapter of my life ended, one I once shared right here."
"And what looked like an ending became the awakening I never saw coming," she continued. "Because I realized how far I had abandoned myself. How often I traded peace for making broken things look whole. And when everything fell away, it stripped me down until the only person left to meet was me."