Regina King Talks to Wendy Williams About Her Love Life—Would She Date a Plumber? Watch!

44-year-old actress, 227 and Southland alum, Scandal guest director and star of the upcoming ABC show American Crime is a single mom

By Corinne Heller Mar 26, 2015 9:54 PMTags
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Would Regina King date a plumber? If he's able to whisk her away on a romantic vacation...and pay for it, perhaps!

The 44-year-old actress, a single mom and 227 and Southland alum, who can be seen on the new ABC series American Crime, spoke about her love life on an episode of The Wendy Williams Show that aired on Thursday.

"You know, I need to do a better job at it," King said, about dating. "I've been so busy with work and my girlfriends are like, 'Do you think a man is just gonna go knock on the door, like, 'I'm here!'?' And I think I wish he would, but I have to make that more of a priority."

"I don't understand," Williams replied. "You're still in the juicy years."

"I know and that's what one of my friends that's just a couple of years older than me [said], she was like, 'You'd better not waste these years!'" King said.

"What are you, picky?" Williams asked. "Can he be the plumber or does he have to own the plumbing company?"

"Own the plumbing company, own the plumbing company," the actress replied. "I mean, look, look, this is the thing. I think you can find love anywhere and my heart is open to it, but I would like to have...if I can pay for us to go on a vacation, all expenses paid out of my own pocket, then he should be able to do that as well."

King shares a 19-year-old son with Ian Alexander Sr. The two were married for about 10 years before she filed for divorce in 2007.

King went on to date Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, for several years before the two called it quits in 2013. The actor, now 44, talked about their breakup in an interview with Sister to Sister magazine, posted online that December.

"Well, I mean, you try not to date in the spotlight," Warner said. "I think what Regina and I—you know, we had been together for several years before people realized we were together. So unfortunately, our breakup got more coverage than our being together, and that kind of sucked 'cause we spent so much time trying to keep it out of the public eye, and then the breakup was so much in the public eye. So all relationships have their share of obstacles, and you just try not to have yours plastered."

King talked about their split and her return to the single life in a January 2014 interview on The Wendy Williams Show.

"I  am dipping my toe in the dating pool," she joked. "The water is warm."

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The Wendy Williams Show interview also aired hours before the airing of a new episode of ABC's Scandal that King directed. The actress had appeared with Scandal star Kerry Washington in in the 2004 film Ray.

King has some past directorial experience—she helmed several episodes of BET's Being Mary Jane that aired during the current second season and one episode of TNT's Southland during its final fifth season in 2013. She played Detective Lydia Adams on the latter show.

"I went after Scandal," she told Williams. "I wanted to direct Scandal. I wanted to be a part of it."

"I applied for the ABC-Disney directors program," she said. "And I went in saying, 'I want to direct one of Shonda Rhimes' shows!'"