The Real host opened up about how Jeezy proposed in the show's first episode from lockdown.
"The Real" returned to the air on Monday with their first show from self-isolation and the first hour since cohost Jeannie Mai got engaged earlier this month.
Rapper Jeezy, real name Jay Wayne Jenkins, popped the question at his home after the couple's planned trip to Vietnam was canceled. Instead, he brought Vietnam to her, filling the place with traditional decor and food.
Appearing on the talk show this morning, Jeannie admitted it was "surreal" to get engaged during the pandemic, but it was also something so true to Jay's personality.
"He did exactly what I know him to do during a time where you would think life would stop. J continued with life no matter what," she told her cohosts. "And when it comes to marriage, it's not just the perfect moments, it's really about those times, who are you, who is your character when things hit the fan. To see him be the relentless, tenacious man I fell in love with, it puts a whole new meaning to this ring to me."
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Adrienne Bailon wondered if the fact she's been married before will change her approach to his wedding. It was a question which really triggered some emotion in Mai, whose voice began cracking as she answered.
"I would say ..." she began, before tearing up and looking around for a tissue. Her cohosts seemed surprised by her reaction. Looking back at her divorce -- Mai was previously married to actor Freddy Harteis from 2007-2017 -- she called it "one of the most traumatic things that can happen."
"You feel like you failed, you feel embarrassed, all those people that were there at your wedding, all those people who were excited for you," she explained. "You get jaded. I remember telling you guys, 'I'm not getting married again.'"
"The divorce hurt, people change, people behave in ways where you didn't expect it," she recalled. "You see things in people and it makes you completely not able to trust anybody after that."
Stressing the importance of personal time after something like divorce, she said the "only reason I recognize healthy love with Jay today is because I took that time to love myself." She also said she never gave up on love and she and Jay "healed each other."
Watch more about the engagement below:
