Veteran actress Nia Long ripped the Boston Celtics for a way the group dealt with the fallout from suspending her long-time romantic associate, head coach Ime Udoka, for the 2022-2023 season. In a brand new interview with Hollywood Reporter, Long says the Celtics by no means checked on herself or the couple’s 11-year-old son as Udoka’s affair with a staff worker performed out publicly for the world to see.
Just earlier than the season began, information slowly trickled out that the Celtics had been eyeing a big suspension to Udoka. Eventually, it was reported that Udoka had an affair contained in the group in addition to different violations of staff insurance policies. Udoka was suspended for the season, and the Celtics named 34-year-old assistant Joe Mazzulla as head coach.
Long criticized the Celtics for an absence of care given to herself and her son because the story blew up in nationwide prominence. From the Hollywood Reporter:
“I think the most heartbreaking thing about all of this was seeing my son’s face when the Boston Celtics organization decided to make a very private situation public,” says Long, who took her son out of faculty when the information broke. “It was devastating, and it still is. He still has moments where it’s not easy for him. If you’re in the business of protecting women — I’m sorry, no one from the Celtics organization has even called to see if I’m OK, to see if my children are OK. It’s very disappointing.”
The slow-drip nature of the reporting led to intense media scrutiny that overwhelmed Long.
“I literally felt like my heart had jumped out of my body,” she remembers of the media blitz. “And then what I found was this tribe of women and men who were standing up for me in a way that felt like I was in this bubble of protection, and that was very comforting.”
Long just lately walked off a film that had already started manufacturing as a result of she wanted to are inclined to her son and deal with household enterprise.
“I went home to be with my son, and that was what was most important to me, because he was not having an easy time,” says Long, who wouldn’t focus on the standing of her relationship with Udoka, nor touch upon the conduct that prompted his disciplining.
Long stated within the interview that she’s within the technique of transferring again to Los Angeles from Boston. Long and Udoka have an 11-year-old son collectively.
Udoka seemed to be on the precipice of being employed by the Brooklyn Nets, however the league pressured the Nets into entering into one other course. It stays to be seen whether or not Udoka will ever coach the Celtics once more. Boston presently owns the perfect file within the NBA by means of the beginning of this season below Mazzulla.