Jeannie Mai kicked off the holiday season with daughter Monaco after estranged husband Jeezy filed for divorce.
“Monaco and I wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving!!” Mai, 44, captioned an Instagram video on Thursday, November 23. In the clip, Mai is teaching Monaco, 22 months, how to dress a turkey.
Mai welcomed Monaco with Jeezy — whose real name is Jay Wayne Jenkins — in January 2022. While Mai celebrated the holiday with their daughter, Jeezy, 46, stayed off social media on Thursday and didn’t reveal his Thanksgiving plans.
This is hardly the first time Mai has shown off her baby girl since her and Jeezy’s split. Last month, she referred to Monaco as her “North Star” during an interview on Sherri Shepherd’s Sherri.
“I can definitely tell you that I don’t know if I would handle this the same way without her,” Mai said of being a mother while navigating her divorce. “I’m able to look at her and I can say, ‘What would I advise you? If you were in my shoes?’ And it changes everything,”
Mai went on to say that she’s “thankful” to have Monaco in her life.
Mai and Jeezy were married for two years before Us Weekly confirmed that the rapper filed for divorce on September 14.
Jeezy claimed in court documents filed in Georgia, which were signed in June, that his marriage to Mai was irretrievably broken” with “no hope for reconciliation” and that the estranged couple were “currently living in a bona fide state of separation.” Per the docs, the former couple signed a prenup prior to their March 2021 wedding.
In terms of their daughter, Jeezy is seeking joint physical and legal custody of Monaco “on a temporary and permanent basis.” The docs noted that the final decision would be “determined by the court in accordance with the child’s best interests.” (Jeezy is also the father of three children from previous relationships.)
Jeezy offered more insight into the breakup during an interview with Nia Long earlier this month, explaining that it “hasn’t been an easy journey.”
“I can tell you that I’m saddened. I can tell you that I’m disappointed. I can tell you that I’m uneasy,” Jeezy said in the YouTube video, which was uploaded on November 8. “But God has put me on a different path, and that path is going to entail for me to take care of myself and to love myself and to be in the best situation that I can thrive as someone who’s been through all of the things that I’ve been through.”
He asserted that the decision to end his relationship with Mai was not an abrupt one and came after the two underwent couples therapy.
“I can only do what I can do,” he said. “I can’t expect someone else to do what I’m doing.”