Laverne Cox is addressing all of the criticism regarding her dating life revelation.
In a teaser for her upcoming one-woman show, Gurrl, How Did I Get Here, 53-year-old Emmy-winning star revealed that she was in a relationship with a “blonde-haired, blue-eyed MAGA republican voter who is a New York City police officer” for nearly four years.
Keep reading to find out more…“He was 26, I was 48,’ Laverne said in the video shared on Instagram. “He is a blonde hair, blue-eyed MAGA Republican voter who is a New York City police officer.”
While they’re no longer dating, Laverne admitted that they were “madly in love” during their time together.
She went on to gush over how “hot” he was, but insisted, “I did not develop any of his politics, I still have my own,” adding that she “fell in love with a human being.”
After facing a lot of backlash over the relationship, reveal Laverne went live on Instagram to address the comments.
“I didn’t really think about what the reaction would be, I was just like, telling the truth about it,” Laverne began. “But for the record, when we matched on Tinder, I didn’t know what he did for a living [or] his politics. We were just chatting, he told me he did something else.”
She went on to explain that when she eventually found about this man’s real beliefs and job, she wanted to believe that they could still share a human connection.
“I wanted to see if it was possible to have a relationship with someone with different political beliefs, in theory,” Laverne explained. “I fell in love with a human being who had different politics, and the good things about that relationship were so good that I was willing to work with the politics I didn’t agree with.”
She then noted that last year, “lines had to be drawn.”
“This is my life, and my values are about love, loving people no matter what,” Laverne said. “And there are times I’ve realized I need to love people from a distance, I have to set boundaries…and this is something you learn [by] being in relationships with people. I learned so much from this relationship about myself, about growth.”
The Orange is the New Black alum then pushed back on comments accusing her of “fascist apologia” and “collaborating” with the MAGA movement, stressing that she has never voted for Donald Trump and considers herself to be an antifascist.
“I’m not going to hate people. I don’t believe in that,” Laverne shared. “We have to fight the fascists, and we have to fight the fascist regime. But as we do that, I hope that we’re not dehumanizing people with different beliefs the way they’re dehumanizing us,” she added, referencing a well-known Audre Lorde quote: “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
She added, “That’s what I was seeing in the comments, and I would invite us to critically interrogate that. People are still human beings.”
In an interview from last year, Laverne admitted that she’s considered moving out of the United States after Trump became president again.
Source: justjared.com