Nia Long says Celtics never contacted her after Ime Udoka's suspension: 'It's very disappointing'
More than two months after her fiancé Ime Udoka was suspended for the season by the Boston Celtics, Nia Long is speaking out. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress, producer and director opened up for the first time about what it was like to have her family's private business broadcast to the world and also revealed the Celtics never contacted her after news of Udoka's reported affair became public.
Long and Udoka, who co-parent their son Kez, began dating in 2009 and got engaged in 2015. Long told The Hollywood Reporter that dealing with everything has not been easy for Kez, and she feels the Celtics don't care about her or her son.
“I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public,” says Long, who took her son out of school when the news broke. “It was devastating, and it still is. He still has moments where it’s not easy for him. If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing.”
The Celtics suspended Udoka on Sept. 22 for multiple violations of company policy. The organization never discussed what those violations were, but Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Udoka was suspended after an independent investigation revealed he'd been having an "improper" relationship with a female subordinate.
Long wouldn't comment on the status of her relationship with Udoka, or discuss the reported reason for his suspension. She did say how grateful she was for the huge amount of support she got on social media, which helped her deal with the intense scrutiny that came after the news broke.
“I literally felt like my heart had jumped out of my body,” she recalls of the media blitz. “And then what I found was this tribe of women and men who were standing up for me in a way that felt like I was in this bubble of protection, and that was very comforting.”
