If you're old enough, you probably remember Marques Houston. He played Roger on Sister, Sister and released music both with the R&B group IMX and as a solo artist.
More recently, he's made headlines for his personal life — namely, his relationship with his wife, Miya, whom he married in 2020 after a five-month engagement. At the time, Marques was 39 and Miya was just 19.
Speaking about their relationship on an upcoming episode of TVOne’s Uncensored, Marques explained that he first met Miya when she was 17, but he said they only developed a romantic "connection" after she turned 18.
“Me and my wife’s situation is a little different," he said. "How we met through mutual friends and everything like that. When I met my wife, she was 17. So, we had no [real] conversation…no [real] connection until…you know…she was of age.”
“People don’t understand it and I got a lot of backlash for marrying someone that was 19," he continued. "And you know, when we did finally start to talk, I was like, ‘This woman is like me’ and she was just...when I would talk to her, she’d just. … For one…we had a spiritual connection and I feel like that’s the most important thing. We both love God. We both love Jehovah and that was key.”
Another thing they connected over was music, Marques said. "And her spirit, her kindness, her heart, reminds me a lot of my mom," he continued. "We just connected on so many different levels."
Marques’s comments seem to have reignited backlash on Twitter:
Marques Houston shoulda just kept his mouth closed.
Somebody tell marques Houston unlike his wife, we were not born yesterday…. Dude definitely was channeling Rkelly energy when he married Aaliyah.
Marques Houston said he met his wife when she was 17. I need yall to know that cradle watchin a child & waitin til they legal is still predatory & pedophilic. All that means is you was sexually attracted to them when they was still a kid. A patient pedophile is still a pedophile