Lil Jon Says He Asked for a Divorce Because He Was Tired of Walking on Eggshells

Lil Jon says he decided he wanted a divorce because he was tired of walking on eggshells, a phrase meaning living so carefully that you avoid upsetting someone. He said so on the Angie Martinez IRL podcast, a recorded interview show that listeners stream or download. The episode was published by iHeart on 4 November 2026, and Billboard reported his comments on 6 November 2026.

The rapper and producer, whose real name is Jonathan Smith, was married to Nicole Smith for 18 years. In the interview he described himself as an "extreme optimist" and his ex-wife as an "extreme pessimist." He said the two rarely saw things the same way and had very different ways of thinking, which led to frequent arguments.

He also told host Angie Martinez that therapy would not have changed those differences. In his telling, the way he and his ex-wife are wired is simply different. He did not describe any single event that led to the split.

Lil Jon said that when he turned 50 he realised he could not name anything that made him happy. He said he then set out to find his happiness. According to iHeart's episode description, he has since found peace through meditation and affirmations, which are short, repeated positive statements used as a daily practice.

The episode is titled "Lil Jon: You Don't Know How Much Time You Have Left, So Stop Putting It Off." The conversation ties into his new memoir, I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me, a book about his own life. The memoir discusses the end of his marriage, according to iHeart's description of the episode.

Lil Jon is best known for his work with the group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz and for a long run of hit records and collaborations in hip-hop and dance music. His comments about his marriage come from a long-form interview.

For listeners, the episode is a candid look at a public figure talking through a private split in his own words. It is also a reminder that memoirs often go past the headlines, and that a book's subject can come up in interviews long before its pages reach a shop or a stream.