Actress Nia Long candidly reflected on her ex-partner Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka’s affair with a staff member, sharing a surprising update on their coparenting relationship.
“This summer, I traveled with my youngest son and my ex, Ime. We had a great time,” Long wrote for the October/November 2025 cover story in The Cut. “I’ve never walked that much in my life. But it was really beautiful because we’ve had a very public journey that has found its way to peace and understanding. And there’s a lot of mutual respect that we have for each other. The most important gift you can give your kids is to heal your trauma. I don’t talk much about my personal life ’cause it’s no one’s business, but every now and then people speculate things on social media and it’s like me and Coach are good.”
Udoka and Long began dating in 2010 and got engaged in 2015, though they never married. In November 2011, they welcomed their son, Kez. Their scandal and their subsequent split broke in 2022.
Long added to The Cut: “I hope he wins. He deserves to win. He’s really great at what he does. We can have experiences with our son and make him the priority.”
Nia Long and Ime Udoka Reach Custody Agreement 1 Year After Split
While she and Udoka are on good terms, Long — who also shares son Massai Zhivago Dorsey II, 24, with her ex-fiancé Massai Z. Dorsey — admitted moving on is still an ongoing process.
“There’s still healing to be done and understanding to be had, but the past is the past,” she wrote. “I’m not going to carry burdensome energy with me because that just transfers to my children and it transfers to everything else in my life. I’m proud of myself. I think we’re proud of each other as the parents of Kez, that we’re able to make this an annual thing and commit to these last sweet years of him being in grade school and high school before he goes off to college.
She boasted, “We’re both going to be standing there watching him graduate.”
Long further discussed her philosophy about balancing her career and relationships, writing, “I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life where I was willing to give up my life to be someone’s wife or girlfriend. Ever. Period.”
“I don’t care how difficult the journey has been; I think you can have both,” she said. “I never wanted to wake up in my 30s or 40s and say, ‘Well, what is the value of my life?’ I admire women who are committed to being stay-at-home wives and running a house and raising the children. That’s a job. But I also know that those children grow up, and when they grow up, whether you’re a working mom, a single mom, a stay-at-home mom, there’s a moment that every woman feels, like, ‘Okay, now it’s time to re-create who I am; now it’s time to tap into my passions because there’s so much pouring out.’”
