The sudden end of her marriage didn’t make Tichina Arnold bitter about love. Instead, she chose a more positive outlook.
Rather than fold into herself after finding out her husband of four years, Rico Hines, was unfaithful, the 48-year-old actress, who viewers have loved since her days playing Pam on Martin, chose light.
“I will always say time and time again, my daughter saved my life,” Arnold said candidly on this week’s ESSENCE Yes, Girl podcast.
Arnold told co-hosts Charli Penn and Cori Murray that moving on after her divorce meant she learned to not go down the same road again.
“When you have failed relationships you try to think of what you can change but you get older and there’s a lot of stuff about you that’s not changing,” the Survivor’s Remorse star admitted. “You adjust, you become cognizant of certain things and you learn as you go, but I live my life trying not to make the same mistake twice.”
Arnold has chosen to move forward with strength.
“Well I had to be [brave] because I don’t want to repeat, what we constantly repeat all the time and you’re in a relationship that you don’t want to be in…because as Black women, we’ve nurtured the world,” she added. “We’ve taken care of the world. We’ve breastfed other people’s children. When do we take care of ourselves? So I had to make a move to make sure I did not renege on my decision.”
As for whether or not Arnold’s ready to get back out into the dating world and look for a new man, Tichina said that she only has one requirement.
“I don’t date men without facial hair,” she said. “I love Black men with a goatee! Black men without facial hair make me nervous. Because Black men naturally have facial hair, and when they shave it, it looks like they’re trying to be something that they’re not and it’s offputting for Black women.”
To find out the biggest lesson Arnold has learned in the entertainment business, subscribe (for free) and listen to the full episode above.