Jeannie Mai Gushes Over Fiance Jeezy After He Buys Her A Billboard For ‘DWTS’: I’m ‘Very Thankful’
Jeannie Mai was thinking about her love Jeezy during her latest ‘DWTS’ dance. She spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HL about how Jeezy showed her so much support on HIS birthday.
Jeannie Mai, 41, and Brandon Armstrong earned their first 8 of the season after their emotional routine to “Married Life” from the movie Up. Before the Sept. 28 episode of Dancing With the Stars, Jeannie’s fiance Jeezy, 43, bought her a billboard with information on how to vote for her. HollywoodLife talked EXCLUSIVELY with Jeannie about her fiance’s sweet gesture on his 43rd birthday.
“I’m very thankful for a man that knows how to support his partner so that when I win, we win,” Jeannie told HollywoodLife. “I think that that’s very important in relationships, to make sure that you elevate the other person and you don’t just say, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna vote for you, babe. You’re gonna do great.’ But you really go out of your way to show this person that, hey, I believe in you. Maybe even more than the times you don’t believe in yourself. And I needed that.”
Both her DWTS partner and Jeezy helped her channel those incredible emotions for her performance. “Brandon gave me the best advice that kind of popped the anxiety for me and let it out, which was to fill the room with emotion,” Jeannie said. “Immediately when I thought about the song, the only reason for this song is just that beautiful moment between Carl and Ellie when you watch Up. For me, I see that for J and I. I want to grow old with him, and I want to wake up every day figuring out new ways to love one another. So I thought of that, and I conjured that, and I had so much fun on the dance floor with Brandon. That was the feeling Brandon has been telling me all along, but it took being in that emotion with somebody to bring that out.”
Jeannie was so excited about getting her first 8 that she stole judge Bruno Tonioli’s score paddle. The Real co-host is thankful for the 8, but she just wants to stay consistent moving forward. “I don’t want people to expect an 8,” Jeannie continued. “Something happened tonight and I’m grateful for it, but I really would like to just be consistent and move up from 6s. So whatever that means, I don’t expect to go for 8s. I don’t want to put that pressure on me because I’ve never done any of these dances before ever in my life.”
There’s no doubt that Jeannie and Brandon have amazing chemistry together. They are terrific partners in the ballroom. “That’s something that we didn’t have to really work on,” Brandon told Hollywood Life. “There’s a lot of things that we really have to work on, but feeling connected and trusting each other and dancing hard for each other that really wasn’t an issue. I think height-wise, look wise, aesthetically, we were a pleasing couple out the gate. I remember the first thing that any of the producers told me was, ‘You guys are going to look so good together.’ But it’s more like our energy is similar. It’s not like I’m going this way, and she’s trying to go this way. We learned similarly. We understand in the same way. That was something that we’re very fortunate for very blessed with.” Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.