Jeannie Mai is opening up about life with her daughter, Monaco Mai Jenkins.
In a new interview with Mini Magazine, the TV host reflected on raising her 4-year-old and how motherhood has changed her.
“Monaco cracked me open,” she said. “She showed me that tenderness IS strength. That being moved, being soft, being willing to feel everything fully-that’s not weakness, that’s power. She healed something in me I didn’t even know needed healing.”
“Monaco made me braver. Full stop. Because she is watching. When I face something scary—a new venture, a hard conversation, starting over—I think about what I want her to see. I want her to see a woman who didn’t let fear win. Who got back up. Who chose growth even when it was uncomfortable. She is my greatest motivation to live out loud, because she is learning how to live by watching me do it.”
Mai, who shares Monaco with rapper Jeezy, also spoke about co-parenting and the challenges that come with it.
“Genuinely one of the hardest things I’ve ever navigated,” she said. “There are moments the house is quiet and it just hits different, like a silence that feels loud. What helps me is filling that time with things that make me feel whole, so I come back to her as a better version of myself.”
Asked about a recent sweet moment of motherhood, she said, “I literally just posted a video of this moment the other day. I was driving to the grocery store when Monaco said out of nowhere, I think you’re the best mom ever. Before I melted into the floor, I realized Monaco is reflecting the love she has received from me. I talk to my daughter the way I hope she’ll talk to herself someday.”
“Every word I give her is like a handwritten love letter: intentional, different each time, something she can carry with her. And now that she’s talking so much, I hear it coming back to me,” she continued. “The same softness. The same love. She’s not just learning her voice-she’s helping me rewrite mine too.”
