The former 'Power' star opens up in an interview for THR's series, 'Emerging Hollywood.'
La La Anthony is looking back on her divorce from Carmelo Anthony and thinking about her romantic future. The BMF star sat down with Charlamagne Tha God for a revealing interview as part of The Hollywood Reporter's series, Emerging Hollywood, where she reflected on her career, life and love.
The Power actress filed for divorce from husband Carmelo in June, citing irreconcilable differences after 11 years of marriage. It was the second time the pair split in recent years; they previously separated in 2017 amid rumors of infidelity but appeared to reconcile in 2018. The two share one child together, 15-year-old Kiyan.
Recounting the trials of their relationship, La La admitted that it was "a lot of pressure" being in a high-profile relationship for so long. "When it’s good, it’s good. And when it’s bad, it’s bad," she said. "Because when it’s bad, then everybody got something to say about it... I went into it because this is somebody I loved. I was leading with love. I wasn't leading with anything else."
Although she acknowledges that many people have asked what she expected being married to a basketball star, the former MTV VJ countered that she "didn’t think that was gonna happen."
"So, it happened, and it was a learning experience, and it’s just another chapter in my life that I can learn from," she added, noting that she could never regret the difficult chapters of her marriage because it gave her "my greatest gift, which was my son."
The actress admitted that filing for divorce was "an incredibly hard decision," but the choice made her realize "there’s nothing I can’t do." She argued that staying in the comfort of a long-time relationship is easier than walking away from it, however bad the circumstances might be. "Walking away on your own and trying to rebuild a life by yourself… I was with him when he was 19 years old, like that's all I’ve known," she continued. "To step away from that and try to build my own life and still keep my sanity and keep things normal for my son who only knew his mom and his dad together -- that wasn't the easier decision, but I had to make a decision for myself. So now it’s like, wow, if I could do that, I could do anything."
Now, the two are happily co-parenting, the actress shared. "We want to be a great example to our son. We have open conversations with him. We tell him, 'You were made from love,'" she said. "We're still a family and we do things together. I don’t want my son to look at his parents like they didn't get along. He's looking at us as an example."
"I don’t want him to have dysfunctional relationships. I want him to be better when it comes to that," she added. "What makes me the most sad is that I wanted to be a better example to my son than what I saw and I didn’t necessarily do that. It’s not my fault, but I wanted it to be different for him. He got to an age where he was seeing everything and reading everything. And the fact that I couldn’t necessarily protect him from that, still hurts me, but I try to make up for it in other ways, by just being open with him and still showing him a loving household co-parenting situation."
And while she may feel sad, La La made sure to say that she didn't feel ashamed. "I was never ashamed because I didn’t do anything. That wasn’t my burden to bear," she declared. "I felt sad that he had to go through that. That I had to go through it publicly and still wear a smile... But I knew I had to -- what was I gonna do? Die? I had to build myself up and continue to live. I have a lot to live for. I wasn’t gonna let this destroy me. But there were moments where you felt like, 'How am I gonna bounce back after this one?' It’s tough."
As for her romantic future, La La said that she hopes she'll find love again one day, but revealed she's not "the most confident about it."
"Sometimes I’m like, maybe it’s just not in the cards for me. Maybe an incredible son and an incredible career is like -- that’s for me, you know?" she said. "I definitely pray that it will happen, but I’m also at a place where if it doesn’t, then I’m gonna still have fun. I have great friends. I have great family. I’m not lacking. I would love it. But it’s just, it’s slim pickings. It’s hard to trust when you’ve been scarred in a sense... but I’m in therapy. I’m dealing with my own stuff, and I would love to find love and a companion to do fun stuff with and someone I can rely on."
ET spoke with the actress and TV personality at the star-studded launch party to celebrate her curated first-ever, size-inclusive collection with PrettyLittleThing, where she opened up about beginning a new chapter in the new year.
"I am just really about self-love and taking care of myself. Obviously, my son, Kiyan, is 14, in high school, he is my priority, but I'm really just about tapping into me and what do I like to do and what do I enjoy," she shared. "It has always been about everyone else but me and this year I kind of want to make it a little bit about me."
And when it comes to new romances in 2022, La La played coy, noting that "we'll see what happens." But she did share what she's looking for in a partner, saying that she wants someone to have fun with, to laugh with and have a good time with, and someone that "is chill and easy because that is pretty much my personality."
But she definitely won't be enlisting the help of her son, whom she said makes a bad wingman because he's "too protective."
"Nobody can come next to me when my son is around at all!" she shared.
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