Prepare to Fall in Love With ‘Love Life’ Star William Jackson Harper

This season also explored other aspects of relationships and marriages, like cheating. Do you feel emotional cheating is the same as physical cheating?

I don’t. It’s not to say that it shouldn’t be discussed. That it isn’t a transgression of sorts, because it is. But I think that it’s more like, we’re all just humans bumping into each other. I think that you’re going to be attracted to people that are not your partner. I feel like that’s natural. To have the restraint to not act upon that physically is, I think, part of being in a commitment—having those urges and being like, “You know what, I’m not going to act on that because I don’t want to blow up my life, I don’t want to hurt this person that matters more to me than the gratification I would get in this moment.”

But I think that going down the rabbit hole emotionally with another person, that’s still you hiding something from your person that you really shouldn’t be hiding from them. You’re still opening up to someone else in a way that you should be opening up to your person. I do think that there is a transgression, but I feel like there’s some credit to be given for restraint when it comes to not acting on it physically.

Have you ever cheated in a relationship, or been cheated on?

No. No, I’ve never cheated, and I haven’t actually been cheated on. I guess it’s like…I don’t consider it being cheated on. There have been moments where something felt a little questionable when it came to certain partners that I’ve had before that I’m like, “Huh, Is that okay? I’m not sure if that’s okay,” but I wouldn’t consider it cheating. It was just something that sort of stuck out to me as something to be unpacked.

This season delves into a relationship between a Black man and a Black woman. Would you describe this season as a look into Black love or just love?

I think just love. It’s not like we’re ignoring race. We’re not ignoring the nuances of being a Black person operating and maneuvering within certain white spaces, and we’re not ignoring the connection that some Black people have for each other that is sort of unspoken and just comes up without any effort. But I don’t think that we’re specifically just to show Black love. We’re just looking at a love story where one of the aspects of the limbs we’re viewing this story through is Blackness.

There are a lot of random dates in this season. What is your ideal romantic evening?

Ideal romantic evening? Because I’m so nonromantic, I think maybe going to a basketball game. I’ve taken my girlfriend to a basketball game, and she loved it. I like seeing how happy she was and how much fun she had. That was great. Hanging out, going to a basketball game, going and grabbing a drink at a nice cocktail bar or something, something quiet that isn’t so loud that you can’t talk to each other, but it’s not like dead either. And then just sort of taking a long walk. That’s my jam. It all starts with the basketball game because you got to start with something that’s a lot of fun. Your date’s got to be really fucking hyped about the activity in some capacity.