When news broke that Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs were splitting in 2013, true love died
a little everywhere, or, at least, that's how it felt to the couple's die hard fans.
Let's dig deep into the possible reasons these two decided to "let it go."
While neither Diggs nor Menzel have ever mentioned, or even hinted about, any infidelity in their
marriage, there were rumors following their split that Diggs was, at the very least, considering
his options. RadarOnline claimed that Diggs was "acting like a bachelor" shortly before
the split, and reported in 2013 that he had been spotted out partying and displaying what
looked like "single behavior" in the weeks before he and Menzel separated.
The tab also included allegations of less-than-faithful behavior from Diggs in September and October
of that same year, in the buildup to the couple's December separation. Just two days after news
of the split broke, sources told VH1's The Gossip Table that one of the factors that
caused trouble in their marriage was Taye's supposedly wandering eye.
Since neither Diggs nor Menzel have ever addressed these allegations, however, they'll probably
remain exactly that, unconfirmed rumors.
There was one recurring theme in Menzel and Diggs' relationship, especially toward the
end: distance. Menzel's Broadway career kept the actress ping-ponging between the east
and west coasts, while Diggs' television career kept him pretty firmly tied to Los Angeles.
Managing a bicoastal marriage is tough enough, but after Menzel and Diggs welcomed their
son, Walker, in 2009, splitting time between New York and Los Angeles meant parenting in
different time zones, too. In 2013, Menzel opened up about the toll that living 3,000
miles away from her husband and son was taking on her during her time working while Walker
stayed in Los Angeles with his dad, and what it was like trying to juggle her demanding
career with long-distance parenting. Menzel told People,
"I think I do a decent job at it, or at least people tell me I do. It's hard trying to make
the decision to keep [Walker] in LA so he can go to school with his friends. He would
be with a babysitter or have to travel to me to New York where I am rehearsing all day,
but at least he's with Mommy. It's those kind of decisions that torture me all the time."
Speaking of parenthood, welcoming their son definitely played a role in changing the dynamic
of Menzel and Diggs' relationship. Like most parents, the actors noticed ways that parenthood
strengthened their bond, and ways it sometimes tested it. In 2012, Diggs gushed about how
becoming parents impacted their marriage, telling Theater Mania,
"Seeing Idina as a mother has had a wonderfully positive effect. There aren't many things
that are sexier than just watching the bond that exists between her and Walker, seeing
their similarities when they're together, and all the parts of her that I love the most."
Two years later, however, Menzel spoke with Redbook about the difficulties of balancing
a career and motherhood and discussed the double standards that men and women face when
it comes to parenting, possibly hinting that she felt some inequalities with co-parenting
with Diggs. She told the magazine,
"The guilt is the thing that we as women all feel, whether we stay at home or we work.
There are a lot of double standards with the way the men in our lives see how we make those
choices. I think there's an accounting for how much time I spend with my son, and men
don't have to account for how much time they spend with their child."
Being part of a beloved Hollywood power couple is a bit of a double-edged sword. Sure, on
the one hand fans are rooting for your love to go the distance and cheering you on every
step of the way. But, on the other hand, that same fan support can start to feel like extra
pressure if the romance ever sours.
Diggs admitted in a 2014 Redbook interview that he was always aware there would be a
strong fan reaction if he and Menzel ever decided to break up. He also touched on a
few other factors that added pressure to the relationship, telling the magazine,
"There weren't a lot of couples like us in the theater community, and I know there aren't
a lot of performers as talented as she is...And then you have the whole mixed [race] thing.
It was easy for people to root for us. Right now, we're still trying to figure out a lot
of stuff because we're on different coasts and our son is getting older."
If there were any hard feelings back when the breakup went down, it seems safe to say
that they've long passed. In 2015, Diggs explained that co-parenting Walker has been his and
Menzel's top priority since their divorce, and that, even personally, they're in a good
place. He told People,
"We were friends to start out with, but especially when you have a kid in the mix, there's no
time for any negativity. [Walker is] our main objective, he's what's most important for
us, so we're still there as a family."
"You can't go wrong when you just put the kid first."
In 2016, Menzel echoed this sentiment, stressing that she would never say anything negative
about Diggs because that's not what's best for Walker. She told People,
"Your child comes first, that's all. He comes first and you have to get past your own egos
and you never talk bad about each other."
"He loves sneakers like his dad, my ex is Taye Diggs and he's got like I think he's
got a sneaker fetish, that's the only fetish he has."
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