Tracee Ellis Ross was a guest on Michelle Obama’s podcast this week. The 52-year-old actress explained her preference for dating much younger men.
She said the reason she dates younger men is to avoid toxic masculinity in men her age.
Tracee also discussed her preference for younger men over dinner with Michelle and her husband, Barack Obama. Tracee said Barack asked her, “but why?” and she responded, “Well, maybe because I can.”
“It’s not just that I’m older, I’m also very embodied,”Tracee explained to Michelle and her brother, Craig Robinson, who is also Michelle’s co-host.
“I am a fully very whole person who knows myself, who is in charge of my life and who lives a very full, just … robust life.”
She continued: “It’s not just age, it’s like life experience and sort of a difference. But I had to ask myself the question ‘Why? Why does this keep sort of coming up – other than they’re hot and gorgeous.'”
Tracee added, “But a lot of men my age are steeped in toxic masculinity and have been raised in a culture where there is a particular way that a relationship looks. Anything that starts to smell of that for me, I am – I did enough of it where I was controlled and felt like I was a possession or … a prize. I have no interest in it.”
Tracee also said she regrets not having any children before she turned 52.
Watch the podcast below.
Tracee Ellis Ross says she only dates younger men because of the toxic masculinity in men her age.
(?: Michelle Obama/YouTube)pic.twitter.com/SvoU4MYW2w
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) April 18, 2025
