The Tragedy Of HGTV's Egypt Sherrod And Mike Jackson Is So Sad

HGTV's "Married to Real Estate" might be staged, but Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson's love for each other sure isn't. The DJs-turned-TV hosts' bond seeps through the screen and is reflected in their beautiful family. But despite everything they have going for them, Sherrod and Jackson's lives haven't always been perfect. The two faced plenty of ups and downs and jumped over many a hurdle together — and alone. In their two decades as a couple, they have gone through marital troubles, health battles, and family loss. 

But by then, Sherrod had already developed thick skin. After all, her life had been mired by difficulties since childhood. For a time, she had to live with her grandparents in their Philadelphia home, where space was limited. The best they could do for her was turn a closet into her room. "I lived in a closet, literally. All that was in the room was a bed, that's all that would fit in there. I could open my arms and touch both walls," she told Vibe in 2015.

Instead of remembering that time with grief, Sherrod keeps it close to her heart as a reminder of how far she's come. To this day, the closet is her favorite room in her home. "My closet is where I go for peace. It's my hiding space," she said. Sherrod has proved she isn't afraid to face obstacles head-on, and she brought that attitude into her marriage. They may have stumbled, but Sherrod and Jackson always carry on.

In the early days of her relationship with Mike Jackson, Egypt Sherrod tried to push him away. It wasn't because she was uninterested; Sherrod feared he would end up hurting her like her exes had. "The things that we do in our current relationships are a reflection of past bulls***," she said on the "Girl Stop Playin" podcast in 2023. Sherrod experienced relationship traumas in the past, though she failed to see how they affected her actions toward Jackson.

But he helped her see it. "He called me out on my mess and told me, 'You are taking it out on me — everything from every other guy that did you wrong," she said on "Black Love" in 2019 (via XoNecole). As harmful as it might be, Sherrod's experience is common. "If we've endured multiple negative experiences, it's only natural to become overly cautious," Susan Winter, NYC Relationship Expert and creator of the "Love À La Carte Method," exclusively told Nicki Swift. "We'll start to hunt for red flags, betrayal, and inauthentic behavior in our current partner."

When toxic relationships end, it's important to address the trauma to make room for new, genuine love. "We need to review our participation (as well as our exes) and manage the emotional baggage left behind," Winter told us. That's what Sherrod did. After Jackson alerted her to the problem, she started going to therapy. "We have to get our minds right," she said.

The seven-year itch may or may not be a real phenomenon, but Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson believe it exists. Sherrod and Jackson went through a rough patch around that time, which led them to couples therapy. "I know that the T-word or whatever, that therapy word, scares a lot of people, but it saved us in a very big way," she said in the "Girl Stop Playing" interview. Counseling helped them work on their communication. "What we were doing was talking at one another and not to one another," she said.

The hiccup came when Sherrod noticed she had put her own needs on the back burner throughout the first several years of their relationship. "I fell out of this space of just wanting to make him happy," she told host Koereyelle DuBose. She felt she had lost touch with herself and her interests, a feeling that put a strain on the marriage. "It caused an itch for me," she said. Sherrod eventually learned to put her needs first while still prioritizing Jackson and their relationship. "I got back on track with my goals," she said.

But learning to do both was a process, one that was only possible thanks to counseling. That's because it showed them how to break generational cycles of poor communication in all forms of relationships. "It taught us how to use tools that we didn't have, that we didn't watch our parents with," she said. 

A little over a year into their marriage, Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson welcomed their first child together, Kendall, in January 2012. While welcoming her daughter changed her life, Sherrod's journey into motherhood was also hard. She developed postpartum depression that affected her self-esteem. And those issues took a toll on her marriage. "I was in a very uncomfortable space with myself," she said at the 2019 Black Love Summit.

As a consequence, Sherrod avoided intimacy with Jackson — something he had a hard time dealing with. "I didn't want my husband to see me naked, let alone be intimate with one another anymore," she said. For Jackson, it wasn't just the lack of sex that bothered him, but not knowing what had caused the abrupt changes in his wife's personality. "Not understanding what was going on was more frustrating than anything because I could feel there was a wall being put up," he said.

The main problem was that Sherrod was initially unaware she had postpartum depression. After reading an article about it, she talked to her doctor and embarked on her healing journey. Given her experience, Sherrod had zero tolerance for people criticizing her body after she gave birth to Harper in February 2019. "I have absolutely NO SHAME about my body ... When you have a baby over 40 it hits different," she captioned an Instagram post in response to a social media user who questioned the size of her backside.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson's daughters are seven years apart, an age gap that wasn't by design. After welcoming Kendall, Sherrod struggled to conceive a second time. She faced fibroids and endometriosis for five years, to the point she believed she wouldn't have another biological child. She started talking about adopting, but Jackson wasn't on board. "It caused a hard pause in our relationship," she said in the "Girl Stop Playing" interview.

For Sherrod, a second kid was a big part of the family she had envisioned. "I felt like he was being selfish because he already had two," she said, referring to Jackson's oldest daughter, Simone, from a previous relationship. As they worked through those differences, Sherrod learned she was three months pregnant. While she welcomed two healthy children, neither experience was without complication. Kendall even had to be born early. "I had preeclampsia and horrible edema that was spreading," she told Essence in 2020.

Harper's pregnancy went smoothly, but Sherrod experienced a terrifying C-section side effect two days later. "[I] laid down to go to sleep, it felt like I was drowning. I couldn't breathe," she said. Jackson took her to the hospital, where doctors discovered liquid had built up in her lungs following the surgery. The medical emergency also affected Sherrod's breastfeeding plans. "I couldn't breast feed since the docs had to dry me out due to fluid in my lungs," she shared in the Instagram post about body-shaming.

For three months, Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson worked as a team to figure out why their daughter Harper was having trouble breathing. "Harper has been having trouble breathing at night and Mike and I have been taking turns holding her while sleeping in a chair so she can be upright and get air," Sherrod captioned an Instagram post. They finally learned her adenoids were blocking her airways, and doctors suggested they should be removed. In October 2023, the 4-year-old girl put on her brave face and got prepped for surgery.

Sherrod and Jackson were grateful that Harper was going to get relief soon. "Finally today was her adenoids removal surgery and I am so proud of my baby. She was brave and although nervous, never freaked out," Sherrod wrote. Located behind the nasal passage, the adenoids help fight off infections by catching germs that enter the body through the mouth and nose. However, when adenoids become enlarged, they might pose issues like the ones Harper experienced.

Enlarged adenoids might happen because of allergies or infection. When treating the underlying cause fails, surgery might be the next course of action. Known as adenoidectomy, the procedure requires general anesthesia, but most children recover within a couple of days. Harper handled her adenoidectomy well and spent a few days receiving extra cuddles. "All is well and she is home with me resting. But today my 4 year old is my SHERO! Go Harper Bean," Sherrod shared. 

In 2022, Mike Jackson suffered a heartbreaking family loss. Just weeks after giving birth, Jackson's cousin, Ellen James-Robinson, died from sepsis. That's when the body has an extreme reaction to an infection and begins to attack its own organs. When sepsis sets in, it's crucial to catch it as early as possible. With every hour that it goes untreated, the risk of death goes up by 7.6%. That's why Jackson and Sherrod wanted to address their cousin's death.

James-Robinson had sought medical help several times, only to be sent back home after being reassured nothing was wrong. "This is something that we're seeing more and more — I experienced it right after I gave birth to Harper — just doctors not listening, not thinking that we know our own body," Sherrod said in an Instagram video. She urged women to advocate for their health and men to believe women when they say something isn't right. "This could have been prevented," she said.

Jackson, for his part, called out the medical community for dismissing women's complaints, especially those related to childbirth. "DIG A LITTLE DEEPER. My cousin could've still been alive if the doctors would've cared a bit more. Researched a bit more!" he wrote on Instagram. He also underlined the racial disparities in maternal death in the U.S. "Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women," he wrote, citing information provided by the CDC.

Egypt Sherrod had always been close with her grandmother, Ruthie Mae. When the matriarch told her last minute she wouldn't attend her wedding, Sherrod was seething. She couldn't believe her "mom mom" could do that. She was so hurt that she stopped talking to Ruthie. A year and a half of silent treatment went by when Ruthie suddenly died. Then Sherrod learned Ruthie had been suffering from dementia in secret.

Sherrod is still filled with regret. "She was most likely struggling with her health but trying to save me the stress and grief during my wedding week," she captioned a 2019 Facebook post. Despite her remorse, Sherrod focused on what she learned from Ruthie, in the past and presently. "She told me to make sure I made time to travel and to always earn my own money and be independent," she wrote. Meanwhile, Ruthie's death taught her a lesson in empathy. "Be more compassionate and understanding of what others may be dealing with," she penned.

Even though they weren't speaking, Sherrod believes Ruthie knew how much she loved her. Shortly after her grandmother's death, a friend of Sherrod's photographed her in nature and unknowingly captured sun rays shining down on her. Sherrod had been wondering whether Ruthie was proud of her and if she had joined her husband in heaven. "Little did I know they were both right there with me!!" she captioned a 2021 Instagram post, referring to the sun streaks.