Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs' 14-year-old son, Walker, has inherited his parents' impressive vocals.
"He's got a beautiful voice," Diggs — who met ex-wife Menzel while costarring in the original Broadway production of Rent — told Us Weekly in an interview published on Friday, April 5. "He's hilarious. He's very good-looking. He can do all the things that I can do even better."
Diggs and Menzel, both 53, tied the knot in 2003, welcoming their son six years later. The actors, who divorced in 2013, rarely post photos of Walker on social media — apart from the Wicked actress' glimpse of the teen in early 2023 — but love praising his talents.
"He's found basketball and he's dedicated to that and we're just doing everything we can to support him," Diggs explained, adding that he and Menzel are able to coparent so well because they always put their child first. (The All American actor has been in a relationship with Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood star Apryl Jones since 2021 and is a father figure to two children, whom she shares with ex Omarion. Menzel, for her part, has been married to actor Aaron Lohr since 2017.)
In addition to his inherent musical ability, Walker is also "much cooler" than Diggs was at his age, the How Stella Got Her Groove Back star joked in self-deprecation.
"When I was his age, girls weren't interested in me, so I didn't have to deal with any of this stuff," Diggs quipped. "But he's a good-looking kid, he's a basketball player, he's got cool hair, cool sneakers. He's going to have some issues."
Menzel and Diggs met in 1995 while originating the roles of Maureen Johnson and Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III in Rent, which they later reprised in the 2005 film adaptation.
When speaking about the reason for their split, Menzel told Jesse Tyler Ferguson that "the interracial aspect" of their relationship played a large role.
"[Taye] was on the cover of Essence, and Ebony, and being interviewed by all of these Black journalists, and I think he had his own stuff to deal with, with that," she explained. "And it seemed like there was some disappointment in the community with him, because he was married to a little white Jewish girl," she told Ferguson on the Dinner's on Me podcast in 2023.
"So, I took that on too. That was stuff we had to deal with," the Frozen star said. "It was less about being successful and more about that stuff."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Michelle is an experienced entertainment writer and editor with a focus on celebrity and pop music news. Prior to writing ... Read more
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