NBC 'The Voice' set
“Voice” mentor and frequent performer Ne-Yo has come under fire lately for the now-deleted Instagram post his wife Crystal Renay Smith posted claiming that he has cheated on her multiple times, sometimes with sex workers. She has since filed for divorce and in the filing, Smith claims that Ne-Yo fathered a child with another woman, according to Page Six.
The women of FOX Soul’s “Cocktails With Queens” weighed in on the Ne-Yo drama on a recent episode and they have some pointed words for the singer and his wife.
Vivica A. Fox Blasts Ne-Yo For Disrespecting His Marriage Vows
In the segment on “Cocktails with Queens,” reality TV star Claudia Jordan said they were “all surprised” by the Ne-Yo news and actress Vivica A. Fox added that it was especially surprising because Ne-Yo and Smith just got remarried in April 2022.
“Let me tell you something — y’all better stop playing with marriage,” said Fox. “This is what bothers me with y’all. That y’all go and y’all be doing stuff for the Instagram and y’all don’t take y’all’s vows seriously. Y’all gotta realize when you take vows and you stand before a man of God or a woman of God, respect those. And then to then mess up the marriage and then say respect our privacy? I’m disappointed. I’m very disappointed.”
She is referring to the statement Ne-Yo issued on Twitter on July 31 after Smith’s initial Instagram post in which he wrote, “For the sake of our children, my family and I will work through our challenges behind closed doors. Personal matters are not meant to be addressed and dissected in public forums. I simply ask that you please respect me and my family’s privacy at this time.”
Fox went on to say that she’s disappointed they ran straight to social media to air their problems, especially because they have children. Ne-Yo and Smith share three children — son Shaffer, 6, son Roman, 4, and daughter Isabella, 1.
“This generation, what they do is they immediately run to social media to let everyone know what done happened,” said Fox, adding, “These children just go to Instagram and it’s an Insta story … you guys have to understand marriage. It’s hard work. A relationship is hard work. Y’all have children, so that going and running to social media, I’m disappointed with that.”
Actress Lisa Raye Defended Smith, Saying She Was Probably Just Trying to Get Ahead of the News
Actress LisaRaye McCoy, who candidly explained that she is friends with both Ne-Yo and Smith, said that she thinks Smith received a lot of information about what was going on with her marriage and took to social media to try to get ahead of it.
“For someone to take to social media and have that much information in that text means that she got some real good information that has made her say, ‘Oh, you know what, this is true. I’m embarrassed, I’m humiliated now and I feel like a fool because we just did have our re-nuptials and now this,'” explained McCoy.
She added, “I’m sure she probably tried to get ahead of it, to say, ‘Enough is enough. I got enough. I’m already hurting, I’m bleeding, I know even more than I want to know because now I feel dirty, nasty,’ you know what I mean?” said McCoy.
She went on to say that it’s bad enough “when your man cheats, period,” but if it was with a sex worker then it becomes a dangerous situation.
“[W]hen it’s someone who sells their body, aka a prostitute or an escort service, then that does make you go, ‘What’s going on with you? What is going on that I can’t do for you at home because now you out there,’ she said in the text that I’m sharing my husband with these women that share their bodies with him unprotected,” said McCoy.
Jordan chimed in to say, “Screwing prostitutes unprotected and then coming back home to your wife, that’s so dangerous.”
“That’s dangerous on all sides — his side, her side, their kids’ side. I don’t like this,” said McCoy.
Singer Syleena Johnson then wondered what is it that men need that causes them to do something like this?
“She’s gorgeous, she’s the mother of your kids, she’s still sexy, she still has ti going on, what is it that you need more? What do these men be needing more?” wondered Johnson.
Ne-Yo is a multiple-time “Voice” performer and mentor. He first appeared during season one when he performed “Give Me Everything” with Pitbull.
Then on Season 2 of “The Voice,” Ne-Yo was a mentor for Cee-Lo Green’s team. He returned in Season 3 to perform with fifth-place finisher Amanda Brown. He later appeared during the Season 5 finale, where he performed his duet with Celine Dion called “Incredible.” Ne-Yo was also a judge on the NBC dancing competition series “World of Dance.”
“The Voice” will return in fall 2022 on NBC.
READ NEXT: Miranda Lambert Opens Up About Divorce From ‘The Voice’s’ Blake Shelton