{"id":52191,"date":"2023-11-08T06:46:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T06:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/08\/nia-long-opens-up-about-infidelity-and-ending-engagement-to-ime-udoka\/"},"modified":"2023-11-08T06:46:20","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T06:46:20","slug":"nia-long-opens-up-about-infidelity-and-ending-engagement-to-ime-udoka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/08\/nia-long-opens-up-about-infidelity-and-ending-engagement-to-ime-udoka\/","title":{"rendered":"Nia Long Opens Up About Infidelity and Ending Engagement to Ime Udoka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/people\/nia-long\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nia Long<\/a><span> is getting candid about her <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/media\/videos\/nia-long-and-ime-udoka-split-after-13-years-together-following-nba-coachs-cheating\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">painful, public split from her former fianc\u00e9,\u00a0Ime Udoka<\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Long recently sat joined Jeezy for a raw and emotional conversation, which was released on Tuesday in promotion of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/jeezy-announces-i-might-forgive-but-i-dont-forget-album-following-split-from-jeannie-mai-213902\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his new album<\/a><span>,\u00a0<\/span><em><span>I Might Forgive&#8230; But I Don&#8217;t Forget.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>While Jeezy <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/jeezy-addresses-divorce-from-jeannie-mai-and-explains-why-therapy-couldnt-save-their-marriage\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">opened up about his own split from Jeannie Mai<\/a><span>, Long also reflected on her split from the basketball coach in September 2022, after news of an alleged affair with a female co-worker within the Boston Celtics organization surfaced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Long, the split was &#8220;a wakeup call&#8221; for her &#8212; especially in regards to parenting <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/nia-long-seeking-primary-custody-of-son-amid-claim-ex-ime-udoka-is-not-supportive-210191\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">her and Udoka&#8217;s 11-year-old son, Kez<\/a><span>. Long said she suddenly realized &#8220;&#8216;You&#8217;re gonna do this on your own and you&#8217;re gonna be fine!'&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Long explained that she spent a long time trying to keep the family together, but eventually, &#8220;I had to come to a place where loving myself was bigger and more important than saving anybody.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Udoka was the Celtics&#8217; head coach at the time of the scandal, and had led the Celtics to the NBA Finals during the 2021-22 season, his first season with the team. The scandal, however, rocked the organization before the team ever kicked off the 2022-23 season, ultimately leading to Udoka&#8217;s suspension for the entire season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Udoka, who was eventually fired by the Celtics,\u00a0apologized in a statement shared with ESPN&#8217;s Malika Andrews.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team&#8217;s decision. Out of respect for everyone involved, I will have no further comment.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The actress began dating Udoka in 2009 and the couple got engaged in 2015. They welcomed Kez on Nov. 7, 2011. Long also has a 22-year-old son, Massai, from a previous relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A year after their split &#8212; and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/nia-longs-ex-ime-udoka-requests-joint-physical-custody-of-their-son-after-actress-asks-for-primary\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">amid a legal battle over custody of their young son<\/a><span> &#8212; Long told Jeezy that she&#8217;s still got her share of rough days and challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;Somedays I\u2019m, like, totally good, and then other days I\u2019m like, &#8216;Ugh, God, this feels like so much work!&#8221; Long said, as she began to tear up. &#8220;Then other days it feels like women shouldn\u2019t have to be this strong.\u00a0I don&#8217;t <\/span><em><span>want<\/span><\/em><span> to be this strong sometimes.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Looking back at how her split played out in the headlines and the public eye, Long said she &#8220;was not embarrassed&#8221; but was surprised at the wave of support she felt in the wake of the news.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;The way that Black people stood up for me, and the way that Black women were like &#8216;Oh no, you don&#8217;t do that to her.&#8221; I was shocked,&#8221; Long said. &#8220;Because I didn\u2019t realize that what I had done in my career has so much impact.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For more on Long&#8217;s post-split life, check out the video below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span>RELATED CONTENT:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.etonline.com\/nia-long-opens-up-about-infidelity-and-ending-engagement-to-ime-udoka-214466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nia Long is getting candid about her painful, public split from her former fianc\u00e9,\u00a0Ime Udoka. Long recently sat joined Jeezy for a raw and emotional conversation, which was released on Tuesday in promotion of\u00a0his new album,\u00a0I Might Forgive&#8230; But I Don&#8217;t Forget. While Jeezy opened up about his own split from Jeannie Mai, Long also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[174,4913,3909,20,3890],"class_list":{"0":"post-52191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-entertainment-tonight","9":"tag-ime-udoka","10":"tag-jeezy","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nia-long"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}