Inside The Beautiful Life of Crystal Renay as Ne-Yo’s Wife

Crystal Renay is the wife of Ne-Yo, the American singer-songwriter. They met in late 2014 and tied the knot in February 2016, and they have two children named Roman Alexander-Raj Smith and Shaffer.

Many see Crystal Renay only as the wife and mother of Ne-Yo’s kids but she is more than that. Despite being a busy mom, Renay is a chef and a businesswoman who owns and runs a beauty, cosmetic, and personal care line called NudeLuxeRx Skincare. She runs a YouTube Channel, Crystal Creations where she uploads cooking and recipe videos. She is also a philanthropist who amongst other things, serves on the board of The Smith Family Foundation.

Her husband founded the organization devoted to providing support to children in foster care. You shouldn’t be told that Crystal’s husband is a Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and dancer who is also a record producer and actor. As one of the most popular R&B artists around, he has won three Grammy Awards out of 15 nominations and has sold over 20 million records across the globe. It is only natural that a great deal of his fame has rubbed off on his wife, Crystal Renay.

Ne-Yo’s Wife Is 37 Years Old and of Mixed Ethnicity

You wouldn’t search hard to find that Crystal Renay’s husband Ne-Yo was born on the 18th of October 1979 in Camden, Arkansas to a father of African American persuasion and a mother of mixed heritage: Chinese American and African American.

It’s no secret that his parents who were musicians parted ways when he was young and he was mostly raised by his mother who moved the family to Las Vegas, Nevada. Ne-Yo also has a sister named Nicole Smith. All of such information is not readily available about his wife.

However, we know that she was born on the 18th of September 1989. This means she is almost 10 years younger than her famous husband who is 34 years old.

Ne-Yo’s wife is also of mixed ethnicity as several reports have traced her background to African-American, Italian, and Spanish heritage. While nothing is known about her parents and siblings, some reports have it that she was raised in Forth Myers, Florida by her grandmother.

From the little we know about her, it seems she had a rough upbringing. It is said that she started working at a young age to support herself before she took up modeling. Details of her educational background are not available, even though she is enlightened, we can’t confirm she is college-educated.

Crystal Renay Is a Former Model Who Now Works As a Chef and Television Personality

If one must take everything that has been reported about her, Renay worked in the medical field when she was much younger. She struggled to get by but things improved when she got into modeling and subsequently relocated to Los Angeles in 2011. As a model, she notably worked with Facet Studio. All the while, she was just a model but this changed when she met and began dating Ne-Yo to whom she is now married.

Leveraging the attention she gained from being the special woman in Ne-Yo’s life, Crystal Renay has been able to push her career forward. While her modeling days are over, she has been able to stay relevant as a chef and television personality.

She has been seen sharing her culinary expertise on shows like Good Day Sacramento and Good Day New York. More so, her recipes called Crystal Creations have gained so much traction that it has been featured by several popular publications, including Ok! Magazine.

Similarly, her successes as a chef has been fostering her career as a television personality. For instance, it was part of what was chronicled when she was featured on Platinum Life, an E! Network show. Before this, she was seen in About the Business: the BET show marked her TV debut and since then, she has been seen on other shows and TV specials like The Real, Behind Every Man, and The Year: 2020.

She Met Ne-Yo In Late 2014 and They Got Married In February 2016

It was something close to love at first sight for Crystal Renay and Ne-Yo and things happened quickly for them, so much that they were ready for marriage barely a year after they met for the first time. The couple met sometime in late 2014 when the singer was working on his 2015 album, Non-Fiction.

Ne-Yo once shared that their meeting was initially strictly business and that Renay showed up two hours late. Regardless, they got talking at the restaurant they met and quickly grew fond of each other. The singer related that he knew she was the one but was reluctant to pursue a relationship because he was enjoying being single.

In January 2015, just after the aforementioned album was released, Crystal and Renay got engaged. They didn’t wait for long before they got married: it happened on the 20th of February the following year. They had a glamorous, oceanside wedding.

The Couple Briefly Broke Up In 2020 But Reunited and Welcomed Their Third Child Together In 2021

Like most marriages, Crystal Renay and Ne-Yo’s has encountered some challenges along the way. One of their many drove them apart but they were able to work through it to rekindle their love. It was in February 2020 that it emerged that Renay and the singer would be ending their marriage. When Ne-Yo confirmed that they were getting a divorce in an episode of the Private Talk with Alexis Texas podcast, he stated that it is a “sad thing” that they were ending their marriage but refused to discuss what the problem was or speak ill of Crystal.

But with the Coronavirus Pandemic and the lockdown that came with it, the couple were forced to stay together instead of FaceTiming. This made them have what Ne-Yo described as “brutally honest conversations”. He has stated several times that the pandemic saved their marriage because it forced them to talk about their problems and reconnect with their kids.

Crystal and Ne-Yo were already expecting their first child together when they got married. They had their first son named Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. on the 15th of March 2016. On the 14th of June 2018, the couple welcomed their second son named Roman Alexander-Raj Smith. Shaffer and Roman are older brothers to Isabella Rose Smith, a baby girl that joined the family on the 25th of June 2021.

Renay is also a stepmother to Madilyn Grace Smith who was born on the 12th of November 2010 and Mason Evan Smith born on the 9th of October 2011: the two are kids Ne-Yo had with his ex-girlfriend, Monyetta Shaw.