Nia Long on Her ‘Devastating Moments’ After Split with Ime Udoka

Nia Long attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Netflix’s “You People” at Regency Village Theatre on January 17, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

*Nia Long is speaking out about the “devastating moments” that she has publicly endured recently. 

The “You People” actress made headlines late last year when her ex-fiance, Ime Udoka, was suspended as the Celtics head coach for the 2022-2023 year over his intimate relationship with a female staffer. Long and the young son their share together had moved to the east coast to support Ime. But once news broke that he was cheating on her with a married Morman mother of three, Long packed up and she and the kid moved back to Los Angeles.

She addressed this embarrassingly tough time in a recent interview with Role Recall for Yahoo! Entertainment. 

“I’ve had some pretty devastating moments in my life over the last couple of months. And I’ve had just to say, ‘It’s all right. You’ll pick yourself back up and — oh my god. I’m about to cry,” she said. “‘You’ll pick yourself back up and keep moving.’”

Nia Long and Ime Udoka – Getty

Udoka and Long began dating in 2010 after meeting through mutual friends. In 2015, the two became engaged. Long was reportedly blindsided by Ime’s affair with the Celtics employee. 

“I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public,” Long previously said in a statement amid the headline-making scandal with her ex. 

“No one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing,” she added.

Long and Ime are no longer together, but they’re committed to co-parenting their son.