Nia Long is opening up about her co-parenting dynamic with her children’s fathers.
In a new interview with Playboy, the actress, 55, spoke about how she continues to maintain a good relationship with NBA coach Ime Udoka and actor Massai Z. Dorsey. She shares her son Kez, 14, with Udoka, and her son Massai, 25, with Dorsey.
“I have had beautiful relationships with both of my children’s fathers,” Long said.
“It didn’t work out. It doesn’t mean I don’t love ’em. It doesn’t mean we’re not cool. It doesn’t mean we’re not friends. It doesn’t mean that we still can’t have family time together,” she continued. “It only means that we don’t have to be romantically involved with each other, but we can still celebrate our children.”
For Long, celebrating their kids means spending time together as a family.
“I love my co-parenting situation. We have the best: We go on holidays. We go on vacation. Sometimes we carve out space to go to dinner,” she said. “We went to dinner the other night, and we had a really good time. And then it’s like, ‘OK, bye. Have fun. Talk to you later.’ ”
Communication is also key when it comes to making sure their children have what they need.
“I can call them if [our sons] need something or they can call me,” she said. “There’s obviously boundaries there, but we can still be a family.”
Even with that balance, Long made it clear the dynamic doesn’t run on autopilot. She pointed to the intention behind it, and the role she plays in keeping everything steady.
“And it works. We make it work. Really, I make it work. I’m not giving anyone else the credit,” she said. “We are the designers. We are the architects. We are the ones who can visualize what we want to see for our children, and make them the priority.”
