Jill Scott To Essence: "I Am A Single Mom"

Shortly after the arrival of their 2 month old son, Jett Hamilton Roberts, Jill Scott reported to Essence.com that her and fiance Lil John Roberts are no longer together.

ESSENCE.COM: Congrats to you on your new bundle of joy, Jett Hamilton. How has motherhood been treating you?

SCOTT: Wonderful. I named him after a black gemstone that my makeup artist in Africa had; it was simply called Jet, and I fell in love with it and the name because I thought my beautiful baby is a gem. I truly loved being pregnant and feeling what was going on inside my body and watching it change. It’s difficult to recoup but still amazing nonetheless. I would have another one.

ESSENCE.COM: So does that mean you had an easy labor of love?

SCOTT: Not at all. I was in labor for 36 hours. After that experience, anytime I have reservations and think I can’t do anything I remind myself that I survived the birth of my child (Laughs). Although I didn’t scream my baby into this world, the pain continued after he was born for at least three weeks. During labor I felt like I needed to put the fire out. Everybody kept telling me the pain wasn’t going to last forever but after 20 hours of it I left the building. I felt like I was on the ceiling looking down at myself like, Dag, girl, you still in labor? I know my experience isn’t everyone’s but I believe people need to be realistic when sharing their stories about their pregnancies and birth. When he arrived I held him in my arms for about an hour and then went to sleep because I was simply exhausted.

ESSENCE.COM: Well, at least your hubby-to-be was there to support. How has he been adjusting to Jett?

SCOTT: Yes, he was there and for a couple of days after wards while I stayed in hospital, but John and I are no longer together. When you have a baby you’re dealing with a lot of emotions and I don’t know how much of it had to do with us breaking up, but it happens. We definitely love our son and we are co-parenting and working on being friends. It is what it is. I have a lot of support, so I want for nothing as far as that’s concerned. I know some might criticize me or the fact that my son is being raised in a single-parent home, but I wasn’t raised in a two-parent home and I had a good relationship with my dad. I have hopes for him and I’m sure his father will do his part as well.

Keep your head up Jill. It’s better for Jett to have two loving parents who aren’t together than having two parents staying together for the sake of the child when there is resentment and hostility there. Good luck to them both.