Idina Menzel has revealed one of the reasons her marriage to fellow actor Taye Diggs ended in 2014.
The fact that the couple was an interracial couple, according to the “Frozen” star, had an impact on their relationship.
“It’s very complicated,” Idina Menzel Menzel told Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his podcast “Dinner’s on Me.” She went on to say that the two were “always very supportive of each other and so excited for him.” The interracial aspect became increasingly prominent, and he has spoken about it.”
When questioned about people’s reactions to the duo’s split in a 2014 interview with Redbook, Diggs addressed the multiracial dynamic.
“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].'” “Perhaps they thought it was cute that we met on ‘Rent,'” Diggs speculated. “There weren’t many couples like us in the theater community — and I’m sure there aren’t many performers as talented as she is…” Then there’s the whole mixed [race] issue. People were eager to support us.”
Credit – Gregg DeGuire/WireImage/Getty Images
Idina Menzel and Diggs started dating after they both appeared in the first Broadway production of “Rent” in 1996. Walker Nathaniel Diggs was born in 2009, and they divorced legally in 2014. They were married in 2003.
She stated that the interracial aspect of their relationship became more noticeable as the two performers gained greater attention for their work.
“He’s on the cover of Essence and Ebony and being interviewed by all these Black journalists and I think he had his own stuff to deal with that,” Menzel said Ferguson, the presenter of the show. “And it seemed like there was community disappointment with him because he was married to [a] white, Jewish girl from some show we don’t even remember, so I took that on as well.” That was something we had to cope with. It was less about achievement and more about that sort of thing.”
As Diggs’ reputation grew in the late 1990s, Menzel felt she was in her then-partner’s shadow. “You know, it’s the ‘Can we get a picture of him by himself?” she said about her early red carpet appearances with Diggs.
“He was relieved, probably [when I booked “Wicked”], and happy and proud of me,” she remarked. “He was always so supportive and probably relieved, so he didn’t have to feel like he was overshadowing me in some way or taking up too much space.”
Also Read – Millie Bobby Brown on Why She’s Ready to Get Married to Jake Bongiovi at 19