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On their first date, Jeannie told Jeezy that she didn't "plan on having kids" with him.
The Real got off to quite the exciting start on Monday, as the show returned for its new season.
Right at the top of the show, cohosts Loni Love and Adrienne Houghton made some pregnancy puns, saying Season 8 was "really poppin'" and they were all "expecting great things" -- before Jeannie Mai revealed she and husband Jeezy are pregnant with the couple's first child together.
"I can definitely say that our real fam is growing, and it's been really hard to keep all of these secrets for you guys because we've had so much to reveal here at the show, including the fact that, I am pregnant!" she exclaimed, before getting out of her chair and showing off her baby bump for the first time.
"It feels surreal because this is the same home that I said so many defiant things," she said when asked how it felt to share the news on the show. "I was like, 'I know exactly what I want, I know exactly what kind of woman I want to be,' and I always said, I'd never be a mom."
"And there's so many reasons now that are coming to fruition as to why I would have said that then, but I do know that you never say never, and that love can really change you and I'm so thankful to be on a show that's really helped me to grow and to evolve and to see myself differently that I would have ever imagined seeing myself," she continued, getting emotional as she spoke.
"This is the only place honestly, when Jeezy and I were talking, I was like, I've got to come home and tell my girls," she added. "I've got to come home and tell the girls that have always accepted me at every stage of my life, have been through my ups and downs and have always encouraged me to a place where, I feel like you've all individually always told me to, if I wanted to be a mom, I'd be an awesome mom."
She then shared her husband's reaction to the pregnancy and how they both changed their minds in terms of having kids.
"I think the reason why it's such a big deal is because Jeezy made me realize that I've never really felt safe in my life, you know? I've never really truly felt safe," she explained, again tearing up. "And of course, it has to do with things that happened when I was younger, but when you know what feeling unsafe is like, that becomes your world."
"And falling in love with Jeezy, meeting someone who also didn't feel safe in their life, we began to really create a place where our happiness spelled out what safe looked like around us," she continued. "So, as soon as you feel safe, in a healthy relationship, all of sudden you start having visions and dreams and for both of us at the same time, it would be becoming parents, having kids."
While it's the first child for the couple, Jeezy has three children from previous relationships.
"He's already gone through that journey, he knows it so well. But when we first started dating, that was the one thing, you know how transparent I am," she said. "When I say on the first date and lay it out there, I don't want to ever mislead somebody, I don't want them to get mixed expectations, so I always say, 'I don't plan on having kids, where you at?' He’s like, 'I got two, I have two beautiful children so actually I'm good.' I'm like great, let's just have fun and date and get to know each other."
"But as we started to fall more of this healthy love with each other, we said, 'I see having kids with you," she added.
The two started dating in 2018 and got engaged in March 2020. They tied the knot a year later in a small ceremony at their Atlanta home.
