Why are rapper Jeezy and The Real host Jeannie Mai Jenkins getting divorced?

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Earlier this month, rapper and former Boyz n da Hood member Jeezy surprised fans by filing for divorce from wife of two years, Jeannie Mai Jenkins. Jenkins (née Jeannie Mai), is a TV host best known as co-host of daytime talk show The Real for nearly a decade, from 2013 to 2022. The couple have one daughter together.

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A filing at the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The petition, filed by Jeezy, whose real name is Jay Wayne Jenkins, described the marriage between the two as “irretrievably broken,” and that there was “no hope for reconciliation.”

Why are rapper Jeezy and Jeannie Mai Jenkins getting divorced?

The language invoked by Jenkins in the filing is akin to “irreconcilable differences,” a common legal term used as grounds for divorce. According to Georgia law, irreconcilable differences is a term that is “intentionally vague and broad to include all issues that a couple might have which could lead to the permanent breakdown of a marriage,” typically in a no-fault divorce filing.

THR also reported that the rapper applied for joint custody of their infant daughter, born in 2022. In addition, the filing is said to reference a pre-nuptial agreement signed by the couple, who have been together since 2018, prior to their 2021 wedding.

Despite this news, it has been reported that Jeannie Mai Jenkins is attempting to prevent the continuation of the divorce process. “She got married to stay married,” a source close to the TV host told People. “She’s committed to trying to save her marriage.”

A second source told the publication that the couple have “had issues for a long time,” with a long-distance relationship allegedly being a factor in the breakdown of their marriage.

“He spends nearly all his time in Atlanta, and she was flying back and forth between there and LA,” the source claims. “She was scaling back a bit and trying to spend more time in Atlanta to work on their issues.” 

“She obviously knew they had problems, but she wasn’t expecting a divorce. Now she’s trying to figure out what her future looks like and where she’ll be living,” the source concluded.

In a somewhat contradictory report by Entertainment Tonight, a source claims “certain family values and expectations,” were the cause of the couples’ split. “They had different views, and each felt like their needs weren’t being completely met,” the source claims.

In the midst of all this, Jeezy added more confusion into the mix, when he was spotted still wearing his wedding ring despite his divorce filing. In the same report by Bossip, the site also claimed that there was speculation in the industry that Jeannie Mai had been having an affair with fellow TV host, Mario Lopez.

In yet another source-based report, TMZ claimed that there was “no truth” to the affair allegations and that infidelity was not part of Jeezy and Jeannie’s grounds for divorce.

For now, it seems that the only objective truth to the split is Jeezy’s intent to divorce. The reason for doing so, however, is much more subject to speculation.

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