Jeannie Mai’s Baby Monaco Already Speaks English & Vietnamese
You’re never too young to start learning about your culture. Jeannie Mai is teaching her daughter Monaco about her Vietnamese heritage, and the 23-month-old already speaks two languages!
“I’m teaching her Vietnamese, so she speaks English and Vietnamese,” The Real host said in a new interview on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “I mean, she pretty much understands everything we say in Vietnamese, which is so cool because that’s how I learned to speak. I have to speak it fully at home, and then when you go to school, you’ll learn English like that [snaps].” How cool is that?
Monaco is also — unintentionally — learning some colorful language. Mai revealed that the toddler said, “What the hell?” the other day, which made host Jennifer Hudson burst out laughing. “So I’mma clean that up before she goes to school,” Mai quipped.
Monaco is going to her mom’s hometown in the Bay area for Christmas for the first time.
“Monaco is going to experience all of the cultures that the melting pot that is San Jose has,” the Raid the Cage host said. “I want Monaco to feel where I came from and to understand that my parents immigrated here, straight to the Bay from Vietnam, and there’s so much life that came from that. We had 15 people living in a three-bedroom home and she’s going to be in that home. She’s gonna see the bedroom that I grew up in, and she’s gonna watch the stars that are still glued to the ceiling from the ’90s that I have there. And she’s just gonna love seeing the history of how the family came together. So I love that.”
It’s such a valuable lesson for kids to understand their family history — and their privilege. And Mai is doing her best to make sure her daughter gets some quality time with her dad, Mai’s ex Jeezy.
“We’re going to make sure that she gets time with her dad as well so that she’s really able to experience both sides of her family,” Mai said.
During the interview, Mai revealed how excited her mom, Mama Mai, is about the holiday season with Monaco. “She’s got a tree in every room for this little girl that is her size … and she’s giving her a present every day! Every single day,” Mai said, adding that her mom is teaching Monaco about the value of money.
“She already has the word ‘money’ and ‘Cash App,’” Mai added. She’s going to be a future entrepreneur with that kind of education!
All jokes aside though, Mai is obsessed with her daughter.
“Monaco is everything, she’s everything, she’s just my whole world,” Mai said in the interview. “I think we’re present and we’re alive right now, but I think every parent can tell you that when you have a baby, you get a chance to be born again. This entire world has become a whole different place to me with different colors and sights and sounds because of Monaco. So reliving my life and reparenting myself through this little girl has been the greatest gift of my life.” The way she loves her daughter is so beautiful!
Mai and Jenkins welcomed daughter Monaco in Jan. 2022. The two split in September, when Mai “found out at the same time as the rest of the world” that the “Put On” rapper filed for divorce. She told Hudson, “Today it’s about picking up the pieces, it’s about discovering me and being a mom to the best blessing my little girl.”
In October, Mai appeared on Sherri Shepherd’s talk show, Sherri, and opened up about how Monaco is influencing her actions amid the divorce. “You know, Monaco… That is my North Star,” the mom of one said. She continued, “And I can definitely tell you that I don’t know if I would handle this the same way without her because today, I’m able to look at her and I can say, ‘What would I advise you if you were in my shoes?’ And it changes everything.”
“So I’m so thankful to be a mom and I’m thankful to have her,” she said.
Before you go, check out Jeannie Mai’s best quotes about being a mom.