‘The Old Man & the Gun’ film premiere at the Paris Theater – Red Carpet Arrivals
Featuring: Tika Sumpter
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 20 Sep 2018
Credit: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com
There are a number of men on Twitter (and in real life), specifically Black men, who call Black women they see or assume date white men, “bedwenches,” and other jibes. Even celebrity women like Tika Sumpter are not exempt from such insults. But instead of responding with anger, The Haves and the Have Nots star was quite unbothered.
It started when a user shared a picture of a young guy named Nick James who he assumed was the partner of Sumpter. Other guys chimed in and criticized her taste in men, and the taste of other Black women who date white men. When someone stepped up and said that the young man pictured wasn’t Sumpter’s husband, the user who initially shared the photo replied, “STILL A BEDWENCH.”
Sumpter caught wind of what was being said and decided to respond, and do so proudly, sharing a picture of herself snuggling with the real Nick James. She told her detractors to “do better” and wished them luck in finding the kind of happiness she has with James.
The 38-year-old also made it clear that she wasn’t going to let miserable people try and make her feel miserable about her life, because she and James have a whole family and a life they’re building together that can’t be shaken by mere opinions.
As previously shared, Sumpter and James are parents to their 2-year-old daughter, Ella. The two began their romance while co-starring together on OWN’s The Haves and the Have Nots. When she announced her pregnancy, paternity was not shared publicly, despite rumors that she and James were an item. But after Ella’s arrival, she became more comfortable occasionally giving the world a peek into her family life:
And they are very aware that they are an interracial couple. The pair poked fun at it for Halloween when they dressed as Zack Morris and Lisa Turtle of Saved by the Bell:
She is relatively open when it comes to her relationship nowadays, announcing that she was engaged early last year. But she admitted to FitPregnancy that when she was carrying her daughter, the type of negativity she sometimes faces now was why she kept everything to herself early on — including her pregnancy.
“I didn’t want to hear, ‘Who’s the dad?'” she said. “Social media can be harsh, and I’m a mama bear, protective of my family. So that’s why I waited to tell people, including some of my friends.”
