The “Love” singer reveals what led to his son’s recent health scare and how it’s changed their family

Life throws its share of curve balls, but John Legend says he’s got the perfect person in his corner to face them with.

The star, 45, who just released his new family album My Favorite Dream, opens up to PEOPLE in this week’s issue about his 6-year-old son Miles’ recent Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, and how he and wife Chrissy Teigen, 38, come together in the midst of trials.

It all started with summer camp, where “literally 80% of the kids got the same stomach bug within a day or two of each other,” explains Legend when Miles first felt ill. “I remember he was at the emergency room because of it and they checked his blood sugar. The thinking was, this may be a reaction to the infection or he may be diabetic. They did some more tests and decided it was the latter, that he was Type 1 diabetic.”

The news came as a shock to the whole family. “Chrissy was upset a little bit when she first heard it,” he says of his wife’s natural reaction to the diagnosis. Teigen confirmed the diagnosis shortly after posting a photo showing Miles wearing an insulin monitor during the family’s recent visit to Paris for the Olympics. Says Legend, “She’s been so good at learning what she needs to do.”

For his part, “My personality is one where I’m very optimistic and I’m very practical. As soon as I learned that he had this I knew it was going to be life-changing for him and for us, but I’m also like, ‘We can do this.’ We’ve got great advice and lots of people offering support to help us learn.”

They’ve also got each other, which Legend says is their greatest asset in difficult times. “This speaks to us feeling like a team,” he says of Chrissy, “and knowing we can do this together. It just makes us stronger.”

As for how Miles is doing now, “He’s early in his diagnosis, and when you’re early, your insulin is still doing some of the work that it needs to do,” explains Legend. “But as the disease progresses, it’s going to get to a point where we really need to monitor everything, count carbs, give him insulin beforehand. We just have to be more aware.”

Facing the many highs and lows of parenting, like when the pair suffered a painful pregnancy loss back in 2020, has only strengthened Legend and Teigen’s bond. “Parenting makes us feel like we have a joint project together,” he says of raising Miles, along with his sisters Luna, 8, Esti, 19 months and brother Wren, 14 months. “Creating the life we want for them, coordinating with each other, we really feel like a team.”