Getting over a cheating partner is one thing, but doing that when children are involved certainly makes it that much harder. Nia Long seems to be experiencing just that after calling it quits with her ex-fiancé Ime Udoka, who was exposed for sharing a romantic relationship with another woman last year. The actress was said to have been heartbroken after she had just relocated to Boston to be near Udoka, who’d been serving as head coach of the Celtics.
In a recent interview with The Cut, Long reveals that her son, Kez, whom she shares with Udoka, has taken the split very hard as she expressed how the teenager was going through a difficult time still trying to process his parents no longer being together. “My only focus right now is my youngest son ’cause he’s having a really tough time. I’m sure I have some things that I’m suppressing, but I have to do that to take care of him first. That’s the giving. It’s natural.”
if Ime Udoka ruined his career in a place like Boston – with Nia Long at home, only God knows how he’d crash out in a market like Atlanta 😭
— hip hop savant. 🌱⚡️ (@czarjoshmusic) February 22, 2023
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Long further mentioned that as upsetting as the split with Udoka may have been, she has told herself to not react in anger. When Udoka’s cheating scandal made the news, Long said she was devastated to not only hear about the affair from the media and bashed the Celtics team for their handling of the situation. Long argued that the NBA team did not have her best interest in mind when they revealed Udoka’s affair.
Long and Udoka first got together in 2010 before announcing their engagement five years later. It was in late 2022 when the A-list star would learn about Udoka’s infidelity when a report via The Athletic claimed he had been having a “consensual relationship” with a female staff member of the Boston Celtics team.
Udoka was later suspended from his position as coach, with a follow-up statement from the Celtics noting, “The Boston Celtics announced today that the team has suspended Head Coach Ime Udoka for the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies,” they wrote in an official press release. “A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date. The suspension takes effect immediately.”
I finna insert myself as Ime Udoka and try to win Nia long back https://t.co/UKgnxQQwJH
— J (@Talk2meniceWood) February 17, 2023
In December, Long called out the Celtics for how they handled the affair getting out to the public, saying that it didn’t feel as if they were trying to protect her family in the way Udoka’s suspension was handled. “If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.
“I think the most heart-breaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public.”