Taye Diggs has starred in a few of our favourite movies and TV shows, from The Best Man and Brown Sugar, to Private Practice and Empire. While fans have loved to observe him work his magic on screen, some weren’t too keen on his relationship decisions.

After becoming a fan favorite amongst Black audiences, some sisters were dissatisfied after they discovered he was married to fellow actress Idina Menzel, a white woman. Though the pair had known one another for years before getting hitched in 2003, some felt Diggs’ interracial marriage was a slap within the face to his mostly Black fan base.

Though Menzel and Diggs later divorced, the actor said he’s handled pain and bitterness toward Black women who still give him a tough time.

“To this present day, I still get, ‘I believed you simply like white girls?’” the actor said during a recent interview with Van Lathan on “The Red Pill Podcast.” Though he’s been in a relationship with biracial actress and model Amanza Smith for the past few years, Diggs said he’s bored with dispelling the parable.

“It doesn’t matter how I explain myself,” he said, “there’s all the time going to be someone talking.”

Due to the criticism he’s received over time, Diggs said he’s now in a spot where he doesn’t care what people take into consideration his dating decisions, but he admitted still harbors some resentment about how he was treated.

“Deep down inside [there’s resentment]. I don’t wanna say I suppress it, but I just watch it. When it happens to you personally, though you understand the logic, there’s trauma there,” he said.

(Skip to the 23 minute mark to listen to the start of the conversation)

“I don’t know if I can ever mess with a white girl now,” Diggs continued. “I don’t like that. That goes against who I’m as an individual. I feel like I’ve had take care of that so long it has modified what I believe I like, what I’m drawn to.”

Over on Twitter, people had strong reactions to Diggs’ assertion that he not feels comfortable dating white women.

 

After acknowledging that Black women are one of the disrespected and disparaged groups in America, which prompts some to feel strongly about Black men who date outside their race, Diggs offered some advice.

“To ensure that us as a people to maneuver forward is to learn how one can love yourself and to not make excuses,” he said. “The more time you spend pointing fingers the less time you’re going to grow as an individual and the less you’re going to have the opportunity to maneuver forward.”