Idina Menzel is reflecting on the scrutiny she and her ex-husband Taye Diggs experienced over the course of their decade-long marriage.
On this week’s episode of the “Dinner’s on Me” podcast, the “Wicked” and “Frozen” actor said there were “very complicated” reasons for her 2013 split from Diggs, including the negative attention the pair received as a mixed-race couple.
“The thing that came into play more, I would say ― and [Taye’s] talked about it, too ― is the interracial aspect of it,” Menzel said after host Jesse Tyler Ferguson asked if she and Diggs ever felt competitive with one another when it came to their respective stage and screen careers.
“He was on the cover of Essence and Ebony, and being interviewed by all of these Black journalists, and I think he had his own stuff to deal with, with that,” she explained. “And it seemed like there was disappointment in the community with him because he was married to a little white Jewish girl from some show that we don’t even remember. So I took that on, too.”
Diggs and Menzel met as co-stars in the 1996 Broadway smash “Rent,” and were married in 2003. They share a 14-year-old son, Walker.
Shortly before the divorce was finalized in 2015, Diggs addressed the split in an interview with Redbook, noting: “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].’”
“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,” he said. “It was easy for people to root for us.”
Menzel married Aaron Lohr, a former actor who now works as a therapist, in 2017. These days, her acting career remains in high gear, thanks to well-received appearances in films like “Uncut Gems” and “Disenchanted.” In August, she released her latest album, “Drama Queen.”
In her chat with Ferguson, Menzel said she and Diggs remain “very supportive of each other, always,” noting: “[I’m] so excited for him.”
Catch Idina Menzel’s “Dinner’s on Me” interview below. Her remarks on her relationship with ex-husband Taye Diggs begin at about 19:40.