[1][2] She has ten siblings, including her late older brother, Marcel Alain de Souza (1953–2019), a banker and former President of the ECOWAS Commission.

[1][3] Yayi is a great granddaughter of Francisco Félix de Sousa, who was a Brazilian slave trader and the viceroy of Ouidah.

[1] Her older brother, Marcel de Souza, introduced her to her future husband, Thomas Boni Yayi.

[5] In preparation for the 2016 Beninese presidential election, Yayi helped her brother set up a small political party, the Republican Front for a Patriotic Alternative, or Front républicain pour une alternative patriotique, (Frap), which Marcel Alain de Souza chaired and used to launch his presidential candidacy.

[7] She was initially treated in the intensive care unit of Centre National Hospitalier Universitaire-Hubert Maga (CNHU) in Cotonou before being flown to a hospital in Europe for additional treatment in early May 2021.