Taye Diggs is finally opening up about his split from his partner and Broadway star Idina Menzel. If your heart broke when Idina and Taye announced their separation after being together for 16 years, Diggs is aware that your devastation is real.
The actor opened up about his split from his wife of ten years, and how he knew fans of the pair would be upset if and when they separated. “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I thought, ‘Oh, man, people are going to trip out [if we split].’”
Of why so many fans were invested in their relationship, Taye Diggs cited it was easy to root for them because they represented a different union.
“Maybe they thought it was cute that we met in ‘Rent.’ There weren’t a lot of couples like us in the theater community — and I know there aren’t a lot of performers as talented as she is… and then you have the whole mixed [race] thing. It was easy for people to root for us.”
Although Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel are still friendly with each other, they live on opposite sides of the country, which makes it difficult to parent their 4-year-old son Walker. Diggs just wrapped on Murder in the First in Los Angeles, while Idina Menzel is in a new musical If/Then in New York.
Of making a long distance parenting partnership work, despite their split, Diggs told RedBook :
“Right now, we’re still trying to figure out a lot of stuff because we’re on different coasts and our son is getting older. The toughest…well, lately, it’s just leaving for work when I know I have to be away from him for more than a few days.”
It was a shock when the couple split because they were very open about their relationship. Diggs particularly was candid about having an interracial relationship and the implications of that. In 2010 the actor said :
“I won’t pretend [race] wasn’t an issue, because it was. We’ve had to deal with situations in the past where black women would give her attitude or not acknowledge her, and you’ve gotta nip that s**t in the bud. But for the most part, people have been really positive and I’m proud of that.”
Diggs ended his statement saying that you can’t please everyone, even if it did hurt as a black man. That said, Diggs insisted, “You can only be who you are and be proud of that and just brush the other stuff off.”
[Image via ABC Studios]
