La La Anthony is getting candid about leaving her estranged husband and NBA star Carmelo Anthony. The “Power” actress filed for divorce from the Los Angeles Lakers player last June following years of reported infidelities and the basketball player welcoming a child with someone else.
They were together for 11 years.
In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God for The Hollywood Reporter’s series titled “Emerging Hollywood,” the actress shared that “stepping away from that marriage was such an incredibly hard decision for me.”
However, it made her realize that her options were endless. Still, La La admitted, “Staying is easier. Walking away is harder.”
She continued, “Staying in your comfort zone– what you know, your house … your kid is happy ’cause their parents are together; that’s easier. Walking away on your own and trying to rebuild a life by yourself … I was with him when he was 19 years old, like that’s all I’ve known.
She added, “To step away from that and try to build my own life and still keep my sanity and keep things normal for my son, who only knew his mom and his dad together, that wasn’t the easier decision, but I had to make a decision for myself. So now it’s like, wow if I could do that, I could do anything.”
The New York native shares her 15-year-old son Kiyan, with the star athlete, and says co-parenting has been “amazing.” “We want to be a great example to our son. We have open conversations with him. We tell him, ‘You were made from love.’ We’re still a family, and we do things together. We go to his games together. We try to keep it as normal as possible,” she said.
“I don’t want my son to look at his parents like they didn’t get along. He’s looking at us as an example. I don’t want him to have dysfunctional relationships. I want him to be better when it comes to that,” she added.
As for the multi-talented star, she harbors no shame, telling Charlamagne, “ I was never ashamed because I didn’t do anything.” She added, “That wasn’t my burden to bear. I felt sad that he had to go through that. That I had to go through it publicly and still wear a smile. And, ‘Damn La, she’s handling as well.’ But nobody knows what’s going on once the door closed.”
