Marlon Wayans Speaks On Why He Hasn’t Married, “I Never Got Married Because I Knew My Mom Needed Me”

In a recent interview with Essence, actor Marlon Wayans opened up about why he hasn’t married.

He is staring as Ted White in the upcoming Aretha Franklin Biopic, Respect, and admitted that he is a romantic, which is why he didn’t want to play the role of a villain when he landed the role.

“I wanted to play love because that I don’t think we get to see a lot of as Black people,” Wayans tells ESSENCE. “What was beautiful about Lady Sings the Blues is that man loved that woman. That made my sister’s skin crawl. My momma cried. It was a romance.”

He highlighted Franklin’s tumultuous nature of her first marriage but vows that “I’m going to make y’all fall in love with this relationship. We’re going to fall in love with Ted and Aretha.”

Even though he claims to be a romantic, the veteran actor, 49, has yet to marry, but the death of his mother has changed his views.

“I never got married because I knew my mom needed me. Women sometimes want to battle for your attention, they want to battle for your love, they want to be the one. Me and my mama share the same birthday. I’m not trying to hear you.”

As he enters the second period of his life, he is hopeful. “Yeah, I probably got one in me. Just one.”

Wayans has two children with Angela Zackery: daughter Amai Zackary Wayans, 21, and son Shawn Howell Wayans, 19.

“I like things to bend and not break, and I feel like when you get married, you have to get divorced in order to either be separated or together,” Wayans says. “I like friendships because you just learn each other and you just grow and you just get better.”

Despite the adopted belief that marriage is no longer needed, Wayans says, “You know what I need? I need peace. You know what you need? Peace. Love is a vacation. I don’t want to give nobody issues. I want to give you smiles and I hope you want to give me the same. All the other stuff is just noise and stuff that we’re battling. I just want to smile. I just want to laugh. I just want to eat well, I just want to travel, I just want to be loved, I just want to be hugged. I just want to hug you. I just want all the good stuff. All that other nonsense? It’s for the birds, man.”