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Marques Houston says women his age come with 'baggage and kids' after facing backlash for marrying teenager
When they got engaged, Marques was 38 and Miya was 19.
Actor Marques Houston got a lot of flack back in 2020 when it was revealed that he was engaged to a 19-year-old.
Now the Sister, Sister star has said he tried dating women his own age, but complained they come with 'baggage' and kids.
It doesn't really come out great, does it?
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Marques, who is now 41, explained he feels women his own age tend to come with too much 'baggage' - especially women with an 'attitude', women who are 'independent', and women who have children.
"A red flag to me [was] always with a woman that had a kid,” he told Page Six.
"Nothing against single women, but single mothers with children are a red flag for me.
"I tip my hat and respect women that are raising children on their own, but when I grew up, I never really wanted to have kids."
Marques and Miya, who is now 22, welcomed their first child together in 2021.
The actor and singer went on to explain that it was his dad who warned him to avoid dating single mothers.
"I would talk to my dad a lot, and he would always tell me to have your own kids because you never know what the baby daddy‘s are about.
"So if you’re gonna have kids, make sure it is with a woman that never had kids. So that was always my red flag… and a woman with an attitude. I don’t like women with funky attitudes."
On his relationship with Miya, he said: "I’m 41, she is 22. I could’ve married a 44-year-old woman, and it could’ve been disastrous.
"Women that are my age… they kind of have a different outlook on life.
"Like a lot of women my age are very independent. They are very like, ‘I don’t need a man to do this for me ’cause I can do it for myself.’
"I come from a generation that I love to provide for my wife."
He hears himself, right?
"There’s a lot of women my age I’ve dated, they may have baggage," he continued.
"They may have kids, they may not. There’s so many different women I’ve been with throughout my life, and it just so happens to be that this one [Miya] caught my heart.
"Everything that I prayed for - and everything that I wanted in a woman - she came with. Although she was young, I’m young in spirit."
Since that interview dropped, Marques' bandmate has spoken out against his 'insensitive' comments.
Young Rome, who was in R&B band Immature with Marques, said in a statement: "As a member of Immature, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies in regards to the insensitive statements made by my former group member Marques Houston.
"We were raised by a tribe of strong independent women who faced hardships we will never fully understand.
"Women today have enough battles to endure including the policing of their bodies, equal pay in the workplace, and beauty standards. It is never OK to degrade one group of women in order to praise another."
Topics: Celebrity, Sex and Relationships
Ali Condon