Marques Houston, 41, Gets Served For Saying Women His Age Come With ‘Baggage And Kids’

Marques Houston is back in hot water for downplaying dating women his age because of the “baggage” and “kids” he believes they come with.

The 41-year-old R&B singer and actor has been facing criticism over the 19-year age gap he shares with his 22-year-old wife Miya Dickey. The pair married in 2020, when Houston was 38 and Dickey was just 19 years old.

They went on to welcome their daughter Zara in December 2021 and do a good job at keeping their family life private. But questions still linger with some on social media even accusing Houston of “grooming” his much younger wife.

The Sister Sister star has been defending his marriage in recent interviews, claiming he waited until Dickey was of age before asking her to be his wife. Now, he’s explaining why he never settled down with a woman his age.

“A red flag to me [was] always with a woman that had a kid,” Houston told Page Six in an interview published Tuesday.

“Nothing against single women, but single mothers with children are a red flag for me.”

Despite being a happily married father to his 1-year-old daughter, Houston said he never saw a future as a dad prior to meeting Dickey.

“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,” he said. “So if you’re gonna have kids, make sure it is with a woman that never had kids.”

Houston then dug himself into a deeper hole by calling out the “attitude” he feels some women have.

“So that was always my red flag… and a woman with an attitude. I don’t like women with funky attitudes,” he shared.

“I’m 41, she is 22. I could’ve married a 44-year-old woman, and it could’ve been disastrous,” the singer observed.

How “disastrous” you might ask? Well, according to the “Clubbin” singer, he could’ve ended up with a woman his age who is “independent” and unable to let him “provide for my wife.”

“Women that are my age…they kind of have a different outlook on life. Like a lot of women my age are very independent,” he explained. “They are very like, ‘I don’t need a man to do this for me ’cause I can do it for myself.’ I come from a generation that I love to provide for my wife.”

When it comes to dating women his age, Houston has issues.

“There’s a lot of women my age I’ve dated, they may have baggage. They may have kids, they may not,” Houston said.

“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.”

The cherry on top of this telling interview would be the ’90s star recalling all the criticism he received during his days as the lead singer of Immature when he preferred to have “light-skinned” girls in the group’s videos.

“…People would question… ‘Why can’t you get a black girl?’ And then it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, I only like light-skinned girls,” he said. “Then the plus-size girls will come and get me. I was like, ‘Man, I can’t catch a break.”

In response to the interview, Houston faced more backlash online over his nearly 20-year age gap with his wife, and the subtle contradictions he made in his statements.

“Yes, he wanted to be the FIRST to give a literal teenager “baggage” and kids,” one Twitter user wrote.

“I imagine most men his age come with kids and baggage too. It’s called mid-life. Does Marques know how old he is?” added someone else.

Oh, Roger……