Divorce is a hard road to travel, irrespective of the circumstances, but there is light on the other side. La La Anthony is a living testament to this and opened up about her experience while chatting with Angie Martinez on her IRL podcast.
When Martinez asked about how she navigated her divorce from former NBA player Carmelo Anthony, she admitted it was ‘the hardest part of my life,’ adding that it playing out publicly made it all the more difficult.
“They’re watching everything. So then you have the fake smile … and you’re fucking dying inside,” the Power actress admitted. “It is incredibly hard, incredibly hard. But what are you going to do? You gotta push forward, every day a little bit stronger until you get past it.”
La La filed for divorce in June 2021, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason. The former couple got married in 2010 but faced a series of challenges, including a separation in 2017. Despite it having been a few years since her divorce was finalized, the actress admits that the divorce still hurts her sometimes.
“And there are days, could be years later where something will just hit you and it’ll just hurt or remind you of something,” Anthony said. “I always say, nobody gets married with the thought of getting divorced. You don’t marry somebody thinking I’m going to get divorced. You marry somebody thinking that’s who you’re going to be with for the rest of your life and this is your life.
She continued, “So when that changes, it’s like, ‘Oh, what do I do now? I wasn’t prepared for this. This is not what I thought was going to happen.’ You have to. You have to keep going. You got to live.”
Martinez asked La La the number one advice she would give to someone on the other side of divorce and starting the journey of co-parenting. The 43-year-old TV presenter had words of encouragement, sharing that things improve with time.
“It does get better, it is hard in the beginning,” she stated. “But just remember every single thing you do, your kid is watching and looking at that and forming their own ideas and opinions about how parents should be or relationship are or love is and i never wanted Kiyan to have a messed up view or version of that. It didn’t work out, but we are still a family, we still love you, we still love each other, and we’re going to be there for you no matter what.”
The Anthony’s are doing a fantastic job parenting Kiyan, who is now 18 and in his freshman year of college, so other parents can take a leaf out of their book.