Ne-Yo has said that he’s open to dating fans following his costly divorce.
The R&B star caught up with TMZ at LAX on Wednesday (April 26), two months after he and his ex-wife Crystal Renay finalized their divorce, which resulted in Ne-Yo coughing up nearly $2 million along with one of their four Georgia homes.
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The In My Own Words singer was asked about his love life and when would be the right time to start dating again, to which he replied: “It depends on the person.”
“Me personally, I’m in a space where I’m happy,” he added. “I’m dating now. I don’t give a damn, I’m good…I’m around. I’m enjoying the single life.”
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Ne-Yo added that his DMs are swamped with messages and he tries to respond to as many as he can, before admitting he’d be open to dating a “regular” fan who isn’t a celebrity.
“Yeah man, that part don’t matter to me,” he said. “I honestly don’t even trip over things like that. Somebody on my level kind of understands that plight of what I go through just as a celebrity.
“But at the same time, we’re weirdos. Us celebrities, we’re weirdos. So I like normal people. I’m okay with going for just regular people.”
Crystal Renay filed divorce paperwork at an Atlanta courthouse last August, just four months after she and Ne-Yo renewed their vows. Renay claimed that their marriage was “irretrievably broken with no hope for reconciliation” over claims the singer fathered a child with another woman.
“8 years of lies and deception,” she wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post. “8 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. To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist.”
Ne-Yo, who shares three children with Renay, responded the next day on Twitter, writing: “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.”
He also spoke about the separation from his wife of six years while a guest on Drink Champs last summer, and said they had tried to work through their issues at first.
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“Right before the pandemic was when things was at its worst,” Ne-Yo said. “Just couldn’t talk to each other. Like it’s clearly beef but I’m on tour I’ll see you in three weeks. That type of thing. So when the pandemic hit and everybody had to go home it kinda forced us to sit in each other’s face and talk about the stuff that we just wasn’t talking about.”
In addition to the $2 million, Ne-Yo was also ordered to pay $12,000 in monthly child support payments to his ex-wife, while also covering his kids’ school expenses, which means he’ll be tacking on another $5,000 a month in alimony for the next three years.
