Pop Culture

Tisha Campbell on Dating: ‘People Just Wanna Date Gina…They Don’t Want to Get to Know Me’

The actress claims that men are more interested in her 'Martin' character than than her.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 26: Tisha Campbell attends ONE Musicfest 2025 at Piedmont Park on October 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Aaron J. Thornton/WireImage

Playing Gina on 1990s sitcom Martin may have been a slight hinderance to Tisha Campbell's dating life.

The actress and comedienne, who starred opposite Martin Lawrence in the five-season show, discussed her early dating experiences on 99.7 NOW with Big Reid on Nov. 24. Campbell called herself "very shy when it comes to dating." The entertainer was previously married to actor Duane Martin from 1996 to 2020.

"I've only like had boyfriends and then went straight into marriage. I never went on a like proper date," Campbell said. "No one's ever asked me on a date to go like eat dinner. I never had that."

Campbell then joked that a female friend told her that she isn't "marriage material." "And I said I said, 'Why? I've been married before.' She was like, 'Nah, everybody just want to date Gina,'" Campbell continued. 'It's not marriage right now. The position that you're in, people just want to date Gina.' They don't want to get to know me for me."

Campbell added that because Martin fans identify her as Gina, the character has been a "hinderance to a real relationship."

Earlier this year, the mother-of-two shared on The Breakfast Club that she refuses to go "backwards" after closing a bankruptcy case that stemmed from her divorce.

"I think it's a lifetime of stuff and I don't really understand how we went through the bankruptcy, honestly," Campbell said on the radio show. "I was kind of separated from it, so I don't really know how we got through it, but it really is just taking yourself outside of it and keep it moving forward."

"I got kids, man. I got two kids, one has ADHD, the other one got autism, two separate issues, and I just keep moving forward," she added. "I can't look backwards. I can't. So I just don't."

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