How Brigitte Nielsen's Ex Flavor Flav Celebrated Her Pregnancy at Age 54: 'I Was Flipping with Joy'

Flavor Flav tells PEOPLE how ex-girlfriend Brigitte Nielsen's pregnancy at 54 "shows everybody in the world that everything and anything is possible"

No one is happier for Brigitte Nielsen than her ex Flavor Flav.

Though the rapper, 59, tells PEOPLE that he has not seen Nielsen, 54, in over a decade, he was completely over the moon when he heard about her pregnancy with husband Mattia Dessi.

"This pregnancy at over 50, it's amazing! It shows everybody in the world that everything and anything is possible. I was proud. I was siked to see her belly that big," Flav says of seeing her baby announcement on social media May 30.

"I remember a long time ago I read about a 63-year-old lady that had a baby. If that lady could do it at 63 I don't see why my friend Gitte can't do it at 54," he recalled about the oldest woman to give birth in 1997.

"I'm just happy for Gitte. I never took gymnastics but I was flipping when I saw that. Flipping with joy," the father of seven shares.

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In 2004, Nielsen and Flav met on VH1's The Surreal Life before their unexpected romance was documented on the 2005 spinoff reality show, Strange Love.

"All I want to see is her happy and everything she wants in life. All she wants in life is a happy life and good family life. She's good to people. That's why we clicked. Birds of a feather will flock together," he remembers.

"I miss my friend. I miss being around her," the Public Enemy member says of Nielsen, who at age 40 was raising four sons — Raoul Meyer Jr., Douglas Meyer, Killian Gastineau and Julian Winding — when they appeared on reality TV together.

"At the end of the day, she is a mother and at the time that we were doing our show, she was still in a relationship with Mattia," Flav says of the parents-to-be, who have been married since July 2006 when they tied the knot in Malta, Italy, after first having an unofficial ceremony in February 2005.

"He's a great guy, I love that guy. He let Brigitte shoot the show and make her money. And that's very big of him. I really commend him for really letting Brigitte do her thing. She did it for them not just for herself — for her family. She's always been a family person, always about family," Flav says of Nielsen, even though she ended up choosing the Italian model Dessi over him in Strange Love.

Brigitte Nielsen/Instagram

Though he and Nielsen, whom he affectionately nicknamed Gitte, only dated for one year, Flav recalls making a lifelong friendship with her sons. "I went over to Italy and got to meet her children. Beautiful children, the children love me, they got mad love for me," he says.

"The way I want the best for her is the way I want the best for everybody, not just Gitte. I can't wait to see her and Mattia again," the Flavor of Love star enthusiastically shares.

"It's been a minute. Last time I saw Gitte was the reunion of Strange Love. I hope we cross paths. There were times when I was looking for her and I couldn't reach her and say hi. I guess this is what it takes to find her," he admits.

Brigitte Nielsen/Instagram

All in all, Flav has nothing but love for his former girlfriend and costar.

"When it comes down to Brigitte Nielsen, she's one of the nicest, kindest people that you'll ever want to know. One of the sweetest people. She's very lovable. That's my good friend," he says. "That's gonna be my good friend until I take my last breath."

In addition to missing Nielsen, he also misses being on the small screen.

"I miss being on television. I miss being #1 and I want my #1 spot back and get back to television," Flav reminisces. "Everybody comes up to me and says, 'None of these TV shows are hitting like you Flav, we need you to come back. We need you to come back.' I watch reality TV shows right now and everything is so scripted now."

Reflecting on his time with Nielsen on-screen, he credits their spark for creating must-see reality TV.

"My show wasn't scripted. Definitely, on television, we had the greatest chemistry that's why Strange Love was number one rated," he says, adding that the current wave of reality programming is "all script."