- Nia Long broke her silence about her partner, Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
- A team investigation revealed Udoka was having an affair with a team staff member.
- “I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face,” Long told THR.
Nia Long is speaking out for the first time to The Hollywood Reporter’s Brande Victorian about the investigation by the Boston Celtics in September that revealed the team’s head coach Ime Udoka, who is also Long’s longtime partner, was having an affair with a team staff member.
It resulted in Udoka being suspended for the 2022-23 NBA season. Long told Victorian the revelation caused months of devastation, not just herself but her son Kez, who the two coparent.
“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 told THR, adding that she took her son out of school after the news of the affair broke.
“It was devastating, and it still is,” she continued. “He still has moments where it’s not easy for him. 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. It’s very disappointing.”
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Long and Udoka have been dating since 2009 and were engaged in 2015. The actress would not discuss the current status of their relationship.
Since the news broke, Long has been staying close to home to be with her son, though she said she’s aware of the support people have given her online.
“I literally felt like my heart had jumped out of my body,” she said when the news first broke. “And then what I found was this tribe of women and men who were standing up for me in a way that felt like I was in this bubble of protection, and that was very comforting.”
Long will next be seen in Peacock’s “The Best Man: Final Chapters.” Pegged as the final installment in the “Best Man” franchise, it will feature its original stars including Long, Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, and Harold Perrineau.
