Anthony Anderson and Rocsi Diaz are officially an item, with the Black-ish actor confirming the rumors in a new interview.
In a new conversation with Angie Martinez for her IRL Podcast, Anderson opened up about his relationship with Diaz.
“It was something that just happened. We just happened to be in the same place at the same time, at the right time…in life,” he said around the 40:45 minute mark on the video below.
When asked if he had a crush on Diaz back in the day, when she co-hosted BET’s 106 & Park, he said he didn’t.
“I watched 106 & Park like, ‘Oh, she a cutie,’ but never was like, ‘I got to get with that,” he explained. “We laughed about that. It's like, ‘No, it was never that for me.’ And we've known each other…almost 20 years.”
He said he and Diaz are “in the same friend group” and “just happened to be in the same place at the same time in our lives.”
“This happened, and I welcome it,” he added. “And the difference now is I'm learning, or I've learned to prioritize a better balance in life, in my personal life, and not be just strictly about work and about what the next project is going to be.”
When Martinez pointed out that Diaz gets an “evolved” version of Anderson, he pointed out that he also gets an evolved version of himself.
“At one point not too long ago, I sat back and thought about the relationship that I would like to have at this point in my life, and I realized that I was never going to have that if I was to continue doing what I was doing,” he explained.
“If this is what you want, these are the changes that you have to make. And uh, I made those changes. I believe you receive what you're asking for. And I asked for this relationship with whomever it was going to be with, and once I cleared a path and a way for that to happen and to come in my life, it happened.”
“And this is where I am right now,” he concluded. “It's a beautiful thing.”
The rumor mill began churning earlier this month when the couple were seen together during the Golden Globes weekend, walking hand in hand. And just last week, Anderson confirmed to People that he was “no longer a bachelor,” though he didn’t reveal his partner's identity.
The confirmation comes around two years after Anderson finalized his divorce from his ex-wife, Alvina Stewart. The college sweethearts married in 1999 and share two children, Kyra and Nathan. Their relationship spanned over two decades and included a period of reconciliation following an initial divorce filing in 2015, before ultimately ending for good in 2023.
Diaz has taken a private stance on her dating life and has previously said she prefers to keep relationships out of the public eye unless they’re headed toward marriage.