Singer Marques Houston, 41, is under fire for saying women his age often come with 'baggage' and 'kids' as he addressed his 19-year age gap with his wife
- Marques Houston said he married a younger woman because women his age often come with "baggage."
- The "Clubbin'" singer and former "Sister, Sister" actor, 41, is married to Miya Dickey, 22.
Singer and former "Sister, Sister" actor Marques Houston has said he got married to a younger woman because women his age often come with "baggage."
The "Clubbin'" singer, 41, is married to Miya Dickey, 22. They began dating when she was 18 and married in 2020 when she was 19. A year later, they welcomed their first child.
Houston has previously denied rumors that he knew Dickey before she turned 18.
Addressing his relationship with Dickey in an interview with Page Six, published on Tuesday, Houston said: "I'm 41, she is 22. I could've married a 44-year-old woman, and it could've been disastrous."
"There's a lot of women my age I've dated, they may have baggage," he added. "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 caught my heart."
Houston, who rose to musical fame in the 1990s as a member of the R&B group Immature, also said that "single mothers with children are a red flag."
"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," he explained. "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… and a woman with an attitude. I don't like women with funky attitudes."
Houston's former Immature bandmate Young Rome, issued an Instagram statement on Wednesday criticizing Houston's comments.
"As a member of Immature, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies in regards to the insensitive statements made by my former group member Marques Houston," he wrote.
"We were raised by a tribe of strong independent women who faced hardships we will never fully understand. Women today have enough battles to endure including the policing of their bodies, equal pay in the workplace, and beauty standards."
Rome added that it is "never ok to degrade one group of women in order to praise another."
"We would be nothing without the loyal fans who have stood by us for three decades, some who happen to now be hardworking single mothers," he said. "As artists, it has always been important to us that the content of our music and who we represent as men would never disrespect women (especially women of color) and his views do not reflect those of the group."