Jeannie Mai and Jeezy's love story: From quarantine engagement to swapping lavish wedding for intimate 'mini-mony'
Congratulations are in order for 'The Real' co-host Jeannie Mai and Grammy-nominated artist, Jeezy, seeing that they recently tied the knot after one year of being engaged, in an intimate ceremony in Atlanta. The couple, who got married on March 27, had initially planned to tie the knot in Lake Como, Italy, or the South of France, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden passing of Jeezy's mother, the couple decided to push up their wedding date.
As reported by Vogue, the couple spoke about why they had a change of heart and swapped their big plans for something far more intimate. "And at the end of the day, Jeezy and I really just wanted to become husband and wife," Mai explained. "So we decided to turn our original wedding into a mini-mony, where we exchanged our vows in front of our immediate family and a few close friends," she added.
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Although the pair were engaged for a year, they've been together since November of 2018, when they began seeing each other. The couple met on the sets of 'The Real', a talk show that Mai has been co-hosting since 2013. In a conversation with People Magazine, Mai explained that there was almost an instant connection between them. "Immediately that was a magnetic attraction," she added.
"We are very attracted to each other’s passions to serve. So because we have a mutual joy of having a purpose, we’re going to find a way to do that together," Mai explained.
Prior to dating Jeezy, Mai was married to Freddy Harteis, an actor and producer. The pair tied the knot in 2007 and were married for 10 years, before parting ways. As reported by Cheat Sheet, Mai had made it clear earlier on that she didn't want to have children, but Harteis had a change of heart. While she cited 'irreconcilable differences' differences on her divorce papers, there was a lot more tension brewing under the surface, seeing that Harteis had a daughter within the year of their split.
Mai found the timing suspicious and didn't rule out the possibility that he was with someone else while the couple was still married. Apart from this, the couple faced a lot of problems over the course of their marriage. Mai also spoke up about how Harteis allegedly asked for money during their split.
She opened up about her marriage on 'The Real' – she wishes she'd end things sooner. "It’s weird because the one thing that he’d always say back then is ‘You really truly don’t know a person until they don’t get what they want,'" Mai said while talking about Harteis. "But, I never thought that he’d be the one to prove that to", she added.
However, things changed for the better when she began seeing Jeezy. The pair didn't go public with their relationship for quite a while and kept it under wraps. In January 2019, Mai hinted that there was something between the couple, but didn't get into the details of it. "Jeezy and I hang out,” she said, on an episode of 'The Real. “He’s very special to me, so we don’t really have a label to define what it is we’re doing. We’re just having a good time together.”
In April 2019, she posted a picture of them decked out, ready to attend the SnoBall Gala in Atlanta, an event held to raise money for Jeezy's local non-profit Street Dreamz, confirming that the pair were together.
Later, in August, Mai opened up more about their relationship on 'The Real'. "The things I've been criticized for my whole life and in my past relationships, 'Jeannie you're too deep, you think about things too much,' 'Why's everything got to have a purpose?'" She explained. "I'm not one for small talk or small conversations, I want to know, 'Why do you think the way you do? What brought you to look at things the way you do? Who are you? Who’s important to you? And I found my equal," Mai said, seeing that she'd found her match in Jeezy.
As reported by People Magazine, the couple later got engaged on April 6, 2020, amidst the pandemic. The couple was supposed to go to Vietnam, where Jeezy had planned on proposing, but seeing that they were unable to travel, the artist brought Vietnam to her, by surprising Mai with a quarantine date night, filled with Vietnamese food and decor.