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Taye Diggs recently joined Drew Barrymore for a conversation about his eagerly anticipated return to Broadway and the joys and challenges of parenting a teenage son who, as Diggs humorously admitted, might just outshine him in the coolness department.
Diggs, who co-parents his son Walker with former spouse Idina Menzel, shared how their relationship has evolved as Walker has grown older.
“My son is now 16, and in the last couple of years, it’s like our roles have swapped. Walker is the coolest person I know, and all I want to do is earn his approval. I have to remind myself that I’m still the parent,” Diggs reflected.
He noted that Walker is now in that quintessential teenage phase, where conversations are brief and reactions are often understated.
“He’s just so laid-back and tends to be concise with his words—you know, typical teenage behavior,” Diggs remarked.
“But he’s so just chill and he’s so like short with his [words], you know, he’s being a teenager,” Diggs said.
He described how their day-to-day interactions have changed over time.
“I remember I drop him off at school and he would be the first one to say, ‘What are we going to talk about, Dad?’ Now, he says nothing and my first reaction is to try to make conversation.”
He admitted that learning to navigate that shift hasn’t been easy, especially when instincts tell him to fill the silence.
“Which as a normal human being, that’s what you want to do,” he said. “But with teenagers, that all that does is get on their nerves.”
Instead, Diggs has adjusted his approach, choosing to give Walker space and let conversations happen naturally.
“I said, ‘Let me just lay back and when he wants to speak, I’ll be there.’ And that’s what works,” he explained.
Despite the growing independence, Diggs said moments still come when he sees the affectionate side of his son again, and those moments mean more now than ever.
“When he came to the show, it meant so much to me and every once in a while he’ll drop back into the loving, affectionate kid he used to be before he was Mr. Cool,” he said. “I was more nervous with him in the audience than [with] other celebrities. It was crazy.”
He added that his son’s opinion carries a different kind of weight.
“And I really wanted him to think I was good… I just wanted to impress him.”
Alongside the conversation about fatherhood, Diggs also reflected on how his Broadway schedule differs from his TV and movie schedule.
“You have a full day. You don’t have to be to the theater until 7:30 and then if you’re lucky, you can be out by 10:00. And because you’re only in character for that 2 hours, it’s easier to come back to real life, you know.”