Tracee Ellis Ross Explained Why She Prefers Dating Younger Men

Tracee Ellis Ross shares her gratitude for the decision she's made in her love life.

via: E! News

When it comes to her love life, the Blackish star has often found herself attracted to younger men. But it isn’t only because they are, as she put it, “hot and gorgeous.”

“A lot of men my age are steeped in a toxic masculinity and have been raised in a culture where there is a particular way that a relationship looks,” Tracee told Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson on an April 16 episode of their IMO podcast. “Anything that starts to smell of that for me—I did enough of it where I was controlled and felt like I was a possession or a prize.”

“I just have no interest in it,” she added, “and I will not do it again.”

While she acknowledged that it would be an overgeneralization to say that her preferences come down to a generational difference, the 52-year-old explained that she has dated men her age in the past and noticed a drastic difference compared to men a few years younger. And sometimes, it came down to something as simple as being accepting of gender fluidity and homosexuality.

“I have been long been past the age where I feel like it’s my job to teach somebody or grow them up,” she said. “That, I’m not interested in.”

After all, the Girlfriends actress expressed that she has spent a long time finding what works for her, makes sense for her and feels safe for her. Rather than swiping through dating apps, she found that she prefers meeting new people in the wild, only choosing to pursue relationships that she truly believes will make her life better.

“I do date and it’s a fascinating adventure out there,” Tracee shared. “Mostly though, I think there’s really good men out there. I think to a certain extent, I’m a very unique sort of unicorn of a woman and so it’s gonna take a unique person. And in the meantime, I’ve really learned how to live my life and enjoy it and not sit around waiting.“

Though Tracee—daughter of Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein—embraces being “one of the first generations of choice,” in which a woman has the freedom to “find their own delight and pleasure and choice around how she navigates dating,” she still finds herself mourning the picture-perfect wedding and life she once dreamed of.

“I grieve the things that I thought would be and that are not,” she admitted. “I’m not married. I don’t have children, and I think I grieve that at times.”

“As much grief does surface for me around not having children and not having a partner,” she noted, “I still wouldn’t want the wrong partner.”