Nia Long held back tears while addressing devastating moments she recently experienced following her split from fiancé Ime Udoka.
The 52-year-old actress got candid in a “Role Recall” interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. During the conversation, Long spoke about some of her most famous roles and got emotional while reflecting on the last couple of months.
“I’ve had some pretty devastating moments in my life over the last couple of months,” she said at the 1:55 mark. “And I’ve had to just say, ‘It’s alright. You’ll pick yourself back up and’ — oh my god. I’m about to cry. ‘You’ll pick yourself back up and keep moving.”
Long’s emotional statement comes just four months after Udoka was suspended as the head coach of the Boston Celtics. The NBA team suspended Udoka due to an alleged “intimate relationship with a female member of the franchise’s staff,” which led to the couple splitting after spending more than a decade together.
The actress was reportedly “blindsided” by the affair and said Udoka informed her of his infidelity just days before it became public news.
Last month, Long shared with Hollywood Reporter how the breakup affected her and Udoka’s 11-year-old son, Kez.
“I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public,” Long said. “No one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing.”
Udoka and Long started dating in 2010 and became engaged in 2015 after meeting through mutual friends.
