Laverne Cox is addressing her former relationship with a “blonde-haired, blue-eyed, MAGA Republican” police officer after her love life made headlines last year.
The Orange is the New Black actor and trans activist, 54, faced backlash last summer when she announced in an Instagram video that she had previously been in a relationship for more than three years with a 26-year-old New York Police Department cop who voted for Donald Trump.
Speaking about her experience during Monday’s episode of The View while on her press tour for her new memoir Transcendent, she told the ABC talk show panelists: “People show you who they are eventually.”
She went on to say that the man, whom she did not identify by name on the show or in her book, “treated me better” than anyone she had dated before him.
“We didn’t plan to fall in love, but we did,” Cox said.
She said that by the time his “political affiliation became obvious,” her feelings for him had already progressed, despite him initially lying to her about what he did for work.
“I wanted to see him as a human being beyond that, and then his politics and his unexamined life became clear after the three and a half years,” she said.
“I love him, but I love myself more, and [by] staying in this relationship, I betrayed myself — not just my political values, because, in theory, I’d like to believe we can have relationships across political differences,” she explained. “But there was a value difference.”
After Cox first told fans about her relationship while promoting a live performance on social media last summer, she issued a statement in response to backlash from the trans community.
She said at the time: “This is my life, and my values are about love, loving people no matter what. And there are times I’ve realized I need to love people from a distance, I have to set boundaries.”
Cox also denied any accusations of her being swayed from her progressive views, and emphasized that she had never voted for Trump and that she still considered herself to hold antifascist beliefs.
“I never adopted any of my ex’s politics,” she said at the time. “I always challenged him with love and empathy and tried to listen to his perspectives and often corrected him with facts…. the good things about the relationship were so good that I was willing to work with the politics that I didn’t agree with.”