Laverne Cox is opening up about what led to the end of her much-scrutinized romance with a man she once described as a "blond-haired, blue-eyed MAGA Republican voter who is a New York City police officer."
The "Orange Is the New Black" actor, who is transgender, appeared on "The View" on Monday to promote her new memoir, "Transcendent." It wasn't long before the discussion turned to her ex, whom she identifies in the book only as "Giuseppe."
"People show you who they are eventually," Cox said, noting that Giuseppe was "a beautiful, amazing guy who treated me better than I had ever met" at first. After the pair had been dating for about four months, however, she discovered that he'd lied about his job, and "the political affiliation became obvious."
"I wanted to see him as a human being beyond that," she explained. "And then his politics and his unexamined life became clear after the three and a half years and I was like, 'I love him, but I love myself more,' and staying in this relationship, I'll betray myself, not just my political values."
"In theory, I'd like to believe that we can have relationships across political differences, but there was a value difference," she added. "The personal is political."
Cox drew backlash last year after she acknowledged her past relationship in a teaser video shared to Instagram to promote her live show, "Gurrl, How Did I Get Here?" "We were madly in love," she said in the video, before boasting that her ex was 22 years her junior and "hot."
The post drew a plethora of comments from viewers, many of whom accused Cox, an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, of being hypocritical. "Falling in love with a guy who doesn't care about your livelihood and safety is a choice. I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous," one person wrote. "He was literally all of the worst possible things."
Added another: "I never thought you were a good voice for our community and this certainly proves my opinions to be correct. And anybody buying a ticket to this 'show' is part of the problem."
Cox appeared to be caught off guard by the criticism and later shared a roughly 50-minute follow-up video on social media in which she attempted to clarify her remarks. "I never adapted any of my ex's politics," she said. "I always challenged him with love and empathy and tried to listen to his perspectives, often corrected him with facts, and I wanted to see if it was possible to have a relationship with someone with different political beliefs in theory."
Alluding to President Donald Trump's numerous legislative efforts to roll back protections for trans people in particular, she added, "With this current administration, lines certainly have to be drawn, because we're fighting for our lives in a different way than we were five years ago."
In an appearance on the "Fear &" podcast in March, however, Cox appeared to still be reeling from the response she'd received. "I thought the conversation would be how two people who have totally different politics find a way to make it work or not, and the connection that actually exists beyond politics, the soul connection," she said. "A lot of people will never forgive me."
