Jeanine Mai and her husband Jeezy are expecting, and we are here for it. The 42-year-old TV personality announced 4days ago in an Instagram post showing her in a beautiful gown in Greece with Jeezy kneeling at her stomach. Many people took to congratulating the couple including the daytime talk show cohosts from The Real. Jeannie said in her post “I have never been this thankful to feel so alive.” She went on to post several pictures after that including a video of her and her husband listening to the baby’s heartbeat with the caption “He changed my playlist forever.”
While happiness was in the air, you know the internet couldn’t let this moment past without a reminder of comments made by the TV host some years ago on The Real. Jeannie spoke very candidly about never wanting to be a mom due to past traumas and what she saw for herself in the future. After the announcement critics all over the world posed the question of “Why now?”. If you do not remember Jeannie was previously married to Freddy Harteis for 14 years. When they divorced, she explained that a big part of the divorce was the fact that she didn’t want to have kids. However, now present-day with her husband Jeezy, Mai is singing a new tune.
What was supposed to be a special moment sparked conversations everywhere for women. Questions like “When is the right time to have a baby?”, “What age should a woman consider moving away from having kids?”, and “Can changing significant others change your mind on having kids?” was all over the internet. The bigger question was regarding women always having a biological clock that pretty much determined when we should or shouldn’t have kids. What is crazy is a lot of times that pressure comes from the outside world. Over the years we have seen a shift in women moving from just a homemaker to full-time workforce entities. With women vastly climbing the corporate and entrepreneurial ladders, it seemed the thought of having a baby was so out of touch. The world started putting stigmas that you couldn’t work and be a mother. A prime example of this was in the music industry. While male rappers seemingly were able to grow their careers while having kids, female rappers had to put a halt on family life if they wanted to be successful. It wasn’t until we saw the likes of artists like Nicki Minaj (who was 37 years old when she had her first child), Cardi B, and Yung Miami from the City Girls having babies at the height of their careers and that’s when the narrative started to change.
Having kids for women is a personal choice that only a woman can make for herself. Whether you are 25 years old or 45 years old the shame behind a woman changing her mind should not be attached to a moment so precious. Women have constantly proven we are creatures of many great things. The choice to have a baby is also a constant reminder that women face more judgment in this area rather than love. You also want to be careful about asking women about their stance on kids. While many women have a choice in the matter, a lot of women suffer from things out of their control when it comes to their bodies. The moral of the story is to always remember that the only right a woman must abide by is the right to be a woman in all capacities of life, and no one should be able to take that from us.
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