Ne-Yo’s wife Crystal Smith reveals she learned about their divorce in the tabloids

Ne-Yo’s wife Crystal Smith learned her husband was divorcing her after reading about it in the tabloids.

The couple are now back together after announcing their separation in February, but in a joint interview with Tamron Hall Show, Crystal reflected on the moment she learned about the divorce through the news.

‘We weren’t really talking at that time. I chose to leave the relationship because of issues, and at the time I felt like it was to get back at me or to hurt me, or whatever the case may be,’ Crystal, 34, said, according to Page Six. 

‘He said that it wasn’t so I took his word for that. But it definitely didn’t feel good, it was embarrassing to say the least,’ she said. 

Ne-Yo, 41, broke the divorce news on an episode of the Private Talk With Alexis Texas podcast, where he said he came to the realization their ‘demons’ didn’t ‘mesh.’

The hip-hop singer said he shared the news in an attempt to get ahead of reports swirling about their relationship.    

‘I had gotten word that it had gotten out, and I was trying to get in front of the blogs and everybody. I’ve always hated the whole third person thing. If I don’t hear it from the horse’s mouth, I don’t believe it,’ he said.

‘So I decided to get in front of it before it became rumors and accusations.’  

Upon learning about the news, Crystal, who had been in an abusive relationship prior to meeting Ne-Yo, sought therapy.

‘I chose to go to therapy and to start working on my pain and my issues and everything I was dealing with internally,’ Crystal said.

‘I feel like that was the right step for me to get past it, so whether we were going to be together or not, I had to heal for myself so I could get up and perform for my kids.’

Not long later, the couple got back together.

Ne-Yo admitted he never actually wanted to separate from his wife.  

‘I can honestly say that, though I had to to a degree put a face on for the public, I did not want to get a divorce. I was really, really broken up about it. But I felt I couldn’t show that to her. I couldn’t show it to her, my pride wouldn’t let me show it to her.’ 

Ne-Yo has previously acknowledged quarantine helped bring them back together. 

‘The whole quarantine thing was kind of a blessing,’ the Time Of Our Lives vocalist said on an episode of The Talk. ‘Before the quarantine happened, we were definitely talking divorce.

‘And the quarantine kind of forced us to sit still, block out the noise from the world, you know the world can get very, very loud, and we tend to let the world’s opinion mean more in certain situations than it should.’

Ne-Yo married Crystal in 2016, and shares sons Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr., four, and Roman Alexander-Raj Smith, two, with her.

He also has two daughters from his previous relationship with girlfriend Monyetta Shaw.