Keyshia Cole on Why She Waited to Divorce Daniel Gibson: 'At Some Point You Just Gotta Choose' (Exclusive)

The singer and star of Lifetime's new biopic 'Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story,' opens up to PEOPLE about her ill-fated marriage and dating life

Keyshia Cole is an open book when it comes to love and heartbreak.

The award-winning singer, 41, who just made her acting debut playing herself in Lifetime's new biopic Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story, has been through numerous trials in her personal life as evidenced in the new film. Those struggles include a heartbreaking split from her first husband former NBA player Daniel Gibson.

The "Love" singer and Gibson got married in 2011 and welcomed a son, DJ, now 13, together. In the new film, the pair start off in a blissful relationship before infidelity enters the picture. According to Cole, her son is what kept her in the relationship for so long.

Related: Keyshia Cole Relives Mother's Addiction and Accidental Overdose in New Biopic: 'I Hope It Helps People' (Exclusive)

"That was a lot of the reason why I didn't get a divorce through all the cheating," she tells PEOPLE of finally ending their marriage in 2017, "because it was like, I just want to do it for my kid, you know what I'm saying? Like, 'Can he have two parents in the same home?'"

Cole, whose late mother Frankie struggled with addiction, spent time in foster care and didn't find her biological father until adulthood. She herself grew up longing for her biological parents to be together. Ultimately, she says, wanting that for her son wasn't reason enough to stay in her own marriage. "At some point you just gotta choose you," says Cole, "and choose to be healthy."

These days the mother of two — her younger son Tobias, with ex-boyfriend Niko Khale, was born in 2019 — is focused on "just making lemonade" out of her situation. "Regardless if my kids don't have both parents I'm trying to create that safe space of co-parenting. That's really what it's all about."

While co-parenting "has its ups and downs," she says, "the kids are first in line. Sometimes we don't agree on things and when my kids hurt, I hurt. So they just know Mama Bear is going to come, so don't play. We work it out though."

As for her love life these days, "I don't even know," she says with a laugh. "It's rough out here. You can't get these people to tell you the truth about anything and I'm a truth seeker."

Still, she's not giving up hope. "A couple of people have told me my husband is in Dubai and I need to go overseas," she says. "I said, 'Well bring him on!' I just gotta get over there."

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Read the original article on People.