Ne-Yo recently opened up about embracing his true self after recognizing that monogamy didn’t fit his lifestyle.
During an episode of the new YouTube series, Lemon Drop with Karleen Roy, the 45-year-old singer talked about love and the importance of honesty in relationships while playing a game called “Lemon or Lit.” During the conversation the “So Sick” singer opened up about the things he realized after his 2022 divorce from ex-wife Crystal Renay Williams. “I realized that I’ve not been living my truth for a very, very long time. I’m living it now, and you could tell—my skin is glowing,” Ne-Yo said.
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“Society tells you that you’re supposed to be with one person. You get married and y’all supposed to be together forever,” he continued. “I am not sh*tting on marriage. I’m not shitting on anyone who has figured out how to make that thing work for them. Again, everything’s not for everybody. Monogamy is for you. It’s not for me.”
The three-time Grammy winner stated that this new journey in life was “a weight lifted off my shoulders” after spending “so much time lying and trying to be somebody I wasn’t for the sake of somebody else.”
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“Complete and utter time wasted when I could have just been exactly who I am, said exactly what I want, exactly how I’m rocking, exactly how I’m not, and then waited for those people to gravitate to me because that’s my reality now,” Ne-Yo explained. “I don’t have to lie anymore, and I’ll be damned if I ever go back to that person that needed to lie for the appeasement of somebody else. I’m not that no more.”
The singer noted that embracing his true self has positively impacted all his relationships, including with his ex-wife, with whom he now refers to each other as “friends” again.
“Striving for happiness—ain’t nothing wrong with it,” he added. “As long as my happy ain’t messing with anybody else’s happy, then I’m in the right place. I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Ne-Yo, whose real name is Shaffer Chimere Smith, was married to Crystal Renay Smith from 2016 until 2023. Renay Smith filed for divorce in 2022, alleging that her husband had been unfaithful during their marriage.
Following the announcement of the divorce, Ne-Yo’s ex-fiancée, Monyetta Shaw-Carter, spoke out, stating that their engagement ended due to his repeated requests for threesomes.
