It was a fine day at their son’s basketball game when Regina King saw her ex-husband across the field, cheering their son on, that she decided to make things right between them. The Emmy awards winning actress Regina King and her ex-husband Ian Alexander Sr. had been married for almost ten years when they decided to split in 2007.
The divorce
She is best known for her role in NBC sitcom 227, and a plethora of other works in movies like Jerry McGuire, American Crime, The Boondocks, If Beale Street Could Talk, and 24, with a career spanning three decades along with the tiles of producer and director in her bag.But her real life seemed to be just as tumultuous as the plots she portrayed on-screen, if not more.
When the couple decided to split in 2007 after having been married since 1997, Regina allegedly mentioned several reasons behind their fallout. There were accusations of drug addiction, physical abuse, and even extra marital affair against Ian Alexander Sr.
Making up with the ex-husband
So, when she saw Alexander Sr. at their son’s basketball game, her first reaction wasn’t exactly positive, as the messiness caused during and after their divorce was still fresh on her mind.And yet, she couldn’t help but sense a familiar pattern in the way she was feeling, as she mentions in an essay in He Never Came Home: Interviews, Stories, and Essays from Daughters on Life Without Their Fathers.
In the essay, Regina mentions that she felt sort of lucky then because at least her son had a father that genuinely wanted to be a part of his life, unlike her own.That is when she decided to approach Ian Alexander Sr. after the game and make things more amicable between them. And that is exactly what she did.
Sound like a plot of a typical Hollywood family drama yet?Well, there’s more. It always comes down to the fathers doesn’t it?
Regina King and her father
Regina King's’ parents divorced when she was just eight, and although her dad promised to not let them drift apart, things eventually began to change until the weekend visits with him all but disappeared. Regina’s son, Ian Alexander Jr. was born in 1996. This was around the time when her father really started showing signs of deteriorating health, caused by previously diagnosed Parkinson’s disease.
He was already onto his fourth wife by then. But seeing the unkempt living situation he was in, Regina and her sister Reina, decided to take care of him themselves.
So while Reina physically took care of their father, Regina was responsible for the financial aspect. He sadly passed away in 2009. And although he wasn’t present much during Regina’s life; he did seemingly leave her with a very important life lesson which she gladly applied to her son and his father’s relationship.
Dating after divorce
After Ian Alexander Sr., Regina King was linked to Malcolm-Jamal Warner from The Cosby Show for a while until 2013.Ian also seems to be dating ‘a cool woman’ as he mentioned in a 2015 interview. But he hasn’t been seen publicly with anyone that much and still prefers to keep his private life under wraps.
Regina, on the other hand, mentioned in a 2015 The Wendy Williams Show interview about what she was looking for in a man. She said,
“I mean, look, look, this is the thing. I think you can find love anywhere and my heart is open to it, but I would like to have...if I can pay for us to go on a vacation, all expenses paid out of my own pocket, then he should be able to do that as well.”
And after her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in 2019, she definitely deserves it.
Sources:
https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/ian-alexander-sr--43190.php