Grammy-winning American singer, NE-YO, has candidly shed light on how his polyamorous relationship with three women works.
According to NE-YO, he is not into three relationships but rather in one relationship with three women.
NE-YO spoke about his relationship with Arielle Hill, Cristina and Moneii during an interview with Sherri Shepherd on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. His fourth girlfriend, Brionna Williams is reportedly no longer involved in his polyamorous relationship.
NE-YO, whose real name is Shaffer Chimere Smith, asked Sherri Shepherd what she didn’t understand about his relationship. The 58-year-old Sherri replied, “None of it!”, prompting him to explain how it works.
“I’ll keep this brief,” NE-YO, age 46, began, saying “So after my very public, very ugly divorce, I made the decision that I was never going to tell another lie to a woman ever again in life.”
In August 2022, NE-YO’s then-wife Crystal Renay filed for divorce, claiming he fathered a child with another woman. He and Crystal share three children: Shaffer Chimere Jr., 9, Roman Alexander-Raj, 6, and Isabella Rose, 4. He also has two children from his first marriage, and two children from his relationship following Crystal.
NE-YO and Crystal’s divorce was finalized in February 2023.
“I own the thing that I did in that marriage to mess it up. I own it completely,” NE-YO told Shepherd, adding, “And I decided I didn’t want to be the reason that anybody ever felt like that ever again.”
According to him, “one of the three” current girlfriends had been dating him longer than the others when he presented the idea of a polyamorous relationship to her.
He says “I basically went to her and said, ‘Listen, you know I rock with you. You know I love you, but I have to be honest with you. It’s not just you. I would love for you to meet these other women, and if we can figure out a way to do something together, cool. If not, that’s cool, too.”
NE-YO noted that he let all parties involved decide if they wanted to proceed together, revealing that “Everybody chose to stick around,” the “Let Meu Love You”. “The main understanding is I’m not in three relationships. I’m in one relationship with three people.”
“We figure out ways to make everything work,” NE-YO says, adding that each of his women “gets their individual time,” even though “group time is just as important.”
