Actress and TV personality Lala Anthony, 40, has been single and back on the block for some time. During a candid talk with Jennifer Hudson, she discussed how ‘protective’ her son Kiyan, 15, is when it comes to her dating. On a recent episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show, Hudson asked Anthony how her teenager feels about her dating.
“He doesn’t like it,” she confessed. “And I’m like, ‘So you just want your mom to be alone forever?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, kind of.’”
“But anytime his friends want to go out and do something he’s like, ‘Alright mom bye see you later I’m going here,’ and I’m like, ‘You just leave me in a heartbeat, but you don’t want me to have anybody!’ ” she continued.
Hudson could relate to this–she “can’t even get on the phone” around her son. The singer and TV personality also has a teenage son David Daniel Otunga Jr., 13, who she had with her ex-husband David Otunga. They began dating in 2007, engaged in 2008 and split in 2017.
“Me either!” the ‘BMF’ actress chimed in. “I feel like it’s my dad in the house or something,” Anthony said humorously. “I’m sneaking [around], texting…this is crazy! Or he’s like, ‘Mom, let me see your phone real quick,’ like for what? What do you need my phone for?”
“It must be a mommy-son thing,” said Hudson.
Anthony divorced her ex-husband and Kiyan’s father, Carmelo Anthony, in June 2021. She and the NBA legend had a seven-year marriage before calling it quits.
Back in October, Lala appeared on the Spotify podcast “Call Her Daddy” and said she ‘wasn’t really’ dating at the time. She also added that she wasn’t dating because the dating pool was too young.
“People think I’m just out there, like, you can have any guy you want, but not really because the guys trying to talk to me are 21 to 22 years old,” she said.
That said, Anthony told Hudson she’s working on ‘leading by example’, when it comes to teaching her son how to treat women.
“Like if I get dressed for an event or something, and I’m just leaving he might not say anything,” she began. “So I’m like, ‘Do you think mom looks nice?’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah mom, you look nice.’”
She continued, “And I tell him make sure you say that because women like to hear compliments. Women like people to do nice things for them. So I start with me so he can learn from me how to do that.”
“Or if someone does something nice for you, acknowledge that, let them know that was nice or that made you feel special,” added Anthony. “I try to make sure he’s in touch with his feelings.”
