Marques Houston Explains 19-Year Age Gap With Wife, Says Women His Own Age Have ‘Baggage’

Marques Houston and wife Miya Dickey. (Credit: Instagram/@marqueshouston)

Actor and singer Marques Houston has faced questions since 2020, when he married a woman nearly two decades younger. Now he is doubling down on his decision, saying women his own age have issues.

In a new interview with Page Six, Houston noted that he previously dated women his age but found that they came with too much “baggage.”

“A red flag to me was always with a woman that had a kid,” he told the outlet. “Nothing against single women, but single mothers with children are a red flag for me.”

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At the time of his wedding, Houston was 39 and Miya Dickey was 19. The pair met through a mutual friend two years earlier, although Houston has previously said they didn’t have a “connection until she was of age.”

Their age gap brought a lot of attention and criticism from the public.

Houston is now 41 and his wife is 22. The couple welcomed their first child together in 2021.

Still, the former member of R&B group Immature continues to defend his relationship and insists the age difference doesn’t matter.

“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 daddy’s are about,” Houston said. “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 explained that he found everything he was looking for in Miya.

“There’s so many different women I’ve been with throughout my life, and it just so happens to be that this one (Miya) caught my heart. Everything that I prayed for — and everything that I wanted in a woman — she came with. Although she was young, I’m young in spirit,” he continued.

This is not the first time Houston has opened up about the age gap with his wife.

As previously reported, earlier this month he appeared on TV One’s interview series, Uncensored and addressed the controversy.

“People don’t understand it. And, of course, I got a lot of backlash for marrying someone that was 19,” he said. “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.”