Laverne Cox had social media users doing a double-take this week when she revealed shocking details about her dating history in a video posted to Instagram and TikTok. In the video, Cox opened up about a romantic experience that even took her by surprise.
“My ex-boyfriend, when we met five years ago, at the height of the pandemic, he was 26 and I was 48,” Cox shared. “He was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed MAGA Republican voter who is a New York City police officer.”
While Cox shared that the two kept their political views out of their relationships, social media users immediately raised their eyebrows at the actress and LGBTQ+ advocate’s confession.
“It’s the smiling with pride, that’s bothering me. As if it were a badge of honor,” one user commented.
“‘We were in love’… you sure about that sis? When someone loves you, they honor and respect who you are, your experiences and will fight for your right to exist. His politics say otherwise. Just tell us the D was good, that’s more believable,” another commented added.
The video was part of Cox’s promotion for her upcoming one-woman show “Gurrl, How Did I Get Here?” debuting on July 28 in New York City. However, following the backlash Cox returned to Instagram Live to offer context to her controversial ex.
“For the record, when we matched on Tinder, I didn’t know what he did for a living. I didn’t know his politics. He told me he did something else,” Cox shared.
“I was in love,” she continued. “He has a beautiful soul and has really beautiful qualities. As I found out his job and his politics, particularly in 2020, we were having conversations really for the first time in this country about white supremacy and trying to have conversations with people across difference.”
In the nearly hour-long live stream, Cox explained that by the time she had learned about their differing political views, they had already started developing feelings for one another, which prompted her to try to pursue the relationship.
“For years, I’ve always tried to encourage people to have conversations with people with differences, with love and empathy. And that is something I tried to do in this relationship,” she explained. “I wanted to see if it was possible to have a relationship with someone with different political beliefs, in theory. 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.”
The four-year relationship, which she describes as “healing,” ultimately ended last year when she said “lines had to be drawn” in light of the socio-political climate. Ultimately, Cox acknowledged the “betrayal” the LGBTQ+ community may feel in light of this news. However, she did call out critics “dehumanizing people who have different political beliefs.”
“His humanity went beyond who he voted for – I think everybody’s humanity does,” she said. “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.”
