Crystal Renay, the estranged wife of singer/songwriter Ne-Yo, issued a scathing post over the weekend rife with cheating allegations against her husband.
Renay and Ne-Yo, real name Shaffer Chimere Smith, wed in 2016 and share three children. Ne-Yo recently spoke out about the couple’s marital problems, revealing that they contemplated divorce during the pandemic.
“[Eight] years of lies and deception,” Renay said in an Instagram message. “[Eight] years of unknowingly sharing my life and husband with numerous of women who sell their bodies to him unprotected … every last one of them!”
“To say I’m heartbroken and disgusted is an understatement,” the mother of three continued. “To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist.”
“I will no longer lie to the public or pretend that this is something it isn’t,” Renay said. “I choose me, I choose my happiness and health and my respect.”
“I gained [three] beautiful children out of this but nothing else but wasted years and heartache,” she wrote. “I ask that you all please stop sending me videos or information of him cheating because what he does is no longer my concern.”
“I am not a victim,” Renay asserted. “I’m choosing to stand tall with my head held high. If someone can’t love you the way you deserve then it’s up to you to love yourself. With no hate in my heart I wish him nothing but the best.”
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Ne-Yo on Sunday asked for privacy over the matter.
“For the sake of our children, my family and I will work through our challenges behind closed doors,” a post on Ne-Yo’s official Twitter account said. “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.”
"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.”
— NE-YO (@NeYoCompound) July 31, 2022
The “Miss Independent” songwriter spoke about his marital problems last month.
Ne-Yo told Billboard it was “no secret that during the course of the pandemic” he and Renay considered divorce. “It took the pandemic for us to really sit and have those necessary, yet really uncomfortable conversations,” the 42-year-old said. “Those situations for whatever reason always make for incredible song lyrics. A lot of those song lyrics are on this album.”
Ne-Yo added that his song “Don’t Love Me” is an “open letter” to Renay. Some of the lyrics in the song say, “You should walk away/It’d be selfish of me to ask you to stay/When I know that I cannot love you/The way you deserve.”