Ne-Yo Confirms He and Wife Crystal Smith Have Split and Will Divorce

It’s over between Ne-Yo and Crystal Smith.

The 40-year-old R&B singer confirmed on an episode of the Private Talk With Alexis Texas podcast, released on Saturday, that he and his wife have split and plan to end their almost four-year marriage. The two had recently been the subject of breakup rumors.

“It’s slowly but surely becoming public knowledge that myself and my wife have decided to go ahead and get a divorce,” said Ne-Yo, whose real name is Shaffer Chimere Smith. “It’s not a sad thing, it’s more of a us realizing- long story short, I’m never gonna talk bad about her. I’m not that person. There’s nothing bad to say about her. She’s a fantastic woman. She’s the mother of my children and she’s always gonna be that and I will always respect her.”

“Long story short, she’s got demons just like everybody else, just like me,” he added. “We realize that our demons don’t mesh and until both of us get a hold of our personal demons, it’s gonna be just difficult for us to stay married. With that being said, that’s that, that’s the end of that chapter, not the end of the book. Like I said, that’s the mother of my kids and I love her to death. We’re going to be family forever.”

Crystal has not commented about the breakup.

She and Ne-Yo married in late February 2016 and welcomed their first child, son Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr., a month later. Their second son, Roman Alexander-Raj Smith, was born in 2018.

Ne-Yo also has a son and daughter from a previous relationship.

Ne-Yo also said on the podcast that his and Crystal’s breakup inspired his upcoming new single, “Pinky Ring.”

“The song is not a diss to her, the song is not about her,” he said. “The song is about how I chose to handle the situation, the way that I chose to lift myself up and keep moving, as we all must do.”