When it comes to dating, Tracee Ellis Ross is turning the tables on time.
“Often I date younger men,” Ross revealed on Tuesday’s episode of the “IMO” podcast with Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson.
The actor recalled having dinner with the Obamas and how the conversation veered towards her dating preferences. She recounted how former President Barack Obama asked her why she dated younger men. Her reply? “Because I can.”
“It’s not just that I’m older, I’m also very embodied,” Ross said. “I am a full, very whole person who knows myself, who is in charge of my life, and who lives a very full, just robust life.”
That kind of self-possession, she added, isn’t simply a function of age. It’s the product of “life experience” — and an unshakable sense of self-worth. She credits her confidence not to the passage of time, but to the wisdom it brings.
Many have heard that you have to kiss a few frogs to find your prince and Ross is no stranger to this. Still, her dating life has inspired some introspection: Why do younger men keep gravitating towards her?
Spoiler alert — it’s not just because they’re “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,” she said.
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And when Ross catches a whiff of that familiar dynamic? She exits stage left and refuses to “do it again.”
Ross said she notices younger men have more of an “openness” — whether it’s in terms of “gender fluidity or not even having an issue with homosexuality.”
“I have long been past the age where I feel like it’s my job to teach somebody or grow them up,” Ross added.
