Ne-Yo believes the coronavirus pandemic “saved” his marriage.
The “Sexy Love” singer — who has Shaffer Jr., 5, Roman, 3, and Isabella, four months, with spouse Crystal Renay — admitted he was on the brink of divorce, but having to isolate at home with his family forced him and his wife to confront their issues and “re-connect” with their children.
Speaking on “Good Morning Britain,” Ne-Yo said: “The pandemic saved my marriage. We were talking full-on divorce. It forced us to sit down and talk about our problems and re-connect with our kids. There’s only so much FaceTime you can do.
“In the pandemic, we lost a lot of people, but in my case, it helped a lot of instances in my life. We had brutally honest conversations.'”
Ne-Yo also had to have a chat with his wife about his new single, “What If,” which is about a past love and how things could have been different.
He said: “‘What If’ is a conversation starter, it’s about a relationship and what could have happened if you did what you were supposed to.
“[It’s] a very dangerous song for a married man. My wife was like, ‘Is there something you want to tell me?’ ‘Babe this is not about me, I write about other people’s situations too.'”
But his reassurance didn’t work as the “So Sick” singer — who also has Mason, 10, and Madilyn, 10, from previous relationships — admitted Crystal replied: “Hmm you’re on the couch tonight.”
Ne-Yo previously admitted he and Crystal had “uncomfortable” conversations, which were “blatantly, painfully, brutally honest” to resolve their issues, and while he admitted such “difficult” discussions can be harmful, they found them beneficial.
He said: “We’re actually stronger now than we were before. Now we feel like we can really talk to each other.”
The couple had reached a point in their relationship where they found themselves unable to open up to one another in order to work through their problems.
Ne-Yo said: “I don’t know when it happened, but we got to a place where we felt like we couldn’t just say it, you know.
“You’re feeling something — something’s going on, and you know something’s going on, but for whatever reason, you can’t just come out and say it.
“We got to that place, and that almost broke us.”
