Marques Houston explained why he married Miya Dickey, whom he met when she was barely 17.
Marques caught heat from his female fans for dating the high school student when he was 36.
The former child actor and R&B singer has an explanation for discriminating against older women.
In a new interview with PageSix, the Sister, Sister star said he avoids single women with children because they come with too much baggage.
Marques (pictured with Megan Good and B2K‘s Omarion in 2003) explained that women with kids are a “red flag”.
“A red flag to me [was] always with a woman that had a kid,” he said. “Nothing against single women, but single mothers with children are a red flag for me. I tip my hat and respect women that are raising children on their own, but when I grew up, I never really wanted to have kids.”
Marques said he had a good relationship with his own father growing up.
“I would talk to my dad a lot, and he would always tell me to have your own kids because you never know what the baby daddies are about. So if you’re gonna have kids, make sure it is with a woman that never had kids. So that was always my red flag.”
Marques said older women tend to have an attitude. “I don’t like women with funky attitudes.”
Marques and Miya, 22, welcomed a daughter, Zara Denise, in December 2021.
Marques further explained that women his age are independent and not willing to be submissive or obedient to their men.
“Women that are my age… they kind of have a different outlook on life. Like a lot of women my age are very independent. They are very like, ‘I don’t need a man to do this for me ’cause I can do it for myself.’ I come from a generation that I love to provide for my wife.”
He continued:
“There’s a lot of women my age I’ve dated, they may have baggage. They may have kids, they may not. There’s so many different women I’ve been with throughout my life, and it just so happens to be that this one [Miya] caught my heart. Everything that I prayed for — and everything that I wanted in a woman — she came with. Although she was young, I’m young in spirit.”
