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After keeping her pregnancy with daughter Chi a secret, singer Brooke Valentine is gushing over the now 1-year-old in a new video.
Love & Hip Hop Hollywood producers caught up with the 36-year-old mom and husband/co-star Marcus Black as she talked with unbridled joy about Chi, as well as son London and Black’s daughter Brooklyn. However, she was also honest about how hard the pregnancy and postpartum process was. That wasn’t new for her. She also had a complicated pregnancy with son London, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and hemiplegia.
“My pregnancies with London versus Chi, they were both high risk for different reasons,” she said.
With London she had placenta previa (where the placenta covers the cervix and ability for the baby to exit naturally), and with Chi, high blood pressure and her age (she was 34 when she delivered) made it a high-risk pregnancy.
“I would say with both pregnancies it was kind of like sit down, stay calm, eat right, be stress-free. So I had to shut down with both of my kids,” she said. “Then I experienced postpartum hemorrhage with both of my kids. I ended up being in the hospital myself a whole month after having the baby recovering.”
Though Valentine kept it light in regards to her hospital stays, they were very serious. Not only did she lose a lot of blood with both London and Chi, but when she had her son, he also suffered a stroke soon after birth. Not to mention, postpartum hemorrhaging is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.
“With Chi Summer it was a bit different. She was totally fine and just went home and I was in the hospital,” she said. “She was waiting on me to get out. ‘You good? My milk good? Okay, cool [laughs].”
Despite her experience, she is open to trying to have another child. He, however, came on camera to shut down the idea of her carrying another baby. He said “Absolutely not” to the idea.
“You don’t say absolutely not on having kids,” she responded. “You don’t say absolutely not because people will think you don’t want any more.”
That’s when things took a serious turn.
“For me it’s absolutely not. Are you telling the truth about what happened at the hospital?” he asked.
She said she didn’t want to go into detail so she wouldn’t come off like a killjoy.
“Listen, my wife lost a record amount of blood. She’s in there passing out, her mom passed out. There was a very strong chance it could have been a swap out. You could have got the baby and lost…” cutting himself off. “It was crazy in there. Especially ’cause we not getting no younger, I don’t ever want to put her through that again.”
After she admitted being in the hospital for weeks after giving birth was “tough,” Black said the only way they could welcome another child is via surrogate. However, he’s fine with the three they already have.
“If it was something that would happen, somebody else would be carrying the baby. She’s not doing that anymore,” he said.
“In the event that we did it, you wouldn’t be carrying the baby. This my best friend. I just want to have fun with my wife,” he added. “I don’t want to be raising kids forever. We got three kids. That should be enough.”
The couple previously alluded to her complicated pregnancies and postpartum experience after announcing the arrival of Chi.
“I thank God for you and I’m excited about this new journey,” he said to Valentine in a public Mother’s Day message. “Through all the ups and downs, high risk appointments, hospital stays and life’s uncertainties you stayed solid.”
Valentine also said that she wasn’t part of the most recent season of Love and Hip Hop Hollywood because of her high-risk pregnancy, and because she wanted to focus on her baby after delivery.
“My induction was scheduled because I was high risk. It was scheduled too close to filming and it was just too stressful,” she said in August 2019. “I spent about six weeks postpartum in and out of the hospital. I had preeclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage so I wasn’t feeling too great. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to jump back on set.”
“I wanted to spend time with my daughter. I can’t get these times back. All these little precious moments with her? I will never get them back and I didn’t want to spend them sitting in a van, sitting in a makeup chair, trying to figure out what I’m a do with my hair, trying to see who I’m a beef with next on the show. I didn’t feel like it,” she added. “I needed a break. My bank account looks good. I can take a break if I want to. I’m on vacation. That’s why I’m not on this season.”
For the record though, Valentine said then to fans who wanted answers that you hadn’t seen the last of her on the show.
“I’m still locked in that damn contract, and I’ll see y’all a–es soon. Okay?”
