Tahj Mowry on Why It’s Hard for Anyone to ‘Measure Up’ to Naya Rivera

I remember going to school the first day and people were all cool with me. Like, “Oh, my God. It’s him.” Then I would leave and go to work for lunch and then come back and then everybody hated me. Because they were like, “Ah, he doesn’t have to go to school.” It’s crazy when you think about it, because it’s not normal. In the regular workplace, you’ve got to be, what, 16 to work? For acting that’s nonexistent. You can be an infant. It’s crazy.

It really is. So, let’s talk about some dating questions.

The fun stuff. [Laughs.]

Yeah! What’s the biggest turn-off for you?

Oh, man. I guess not being confident, because then you constantly have to be blowing her up. I think everybody wants to be with someone who is confident in themselves. Everybody should be gassing up their significant other, but you don’t want that to become a job. Or even like…this might sound bad… [Laughs.]

That’s okay.

I’m a chill dude. I think the worst thing is trying to figure out what you’re going to do as a date. If a girl wants to do big stuff all the time instead of just, like, ordering. You know what I’m saying?

Right, like high-maintenance.

Yeah. There you go. High-maintenance can also be an issue.

What’s your type, then?

Confident. God-fearing. I’m a faith person. I haven’t dated in a long time, but I do want to meet my wife someday…obviously. [Laughs.] I think the main things are confidence; for her to have her own thing going as well. There’s something so sexy about a working woman. I think that’s fire.

Who was your first celebrity crush growing up?

That’s easy for me. Naya Rivera. She recently passed away, which was really, really rough. I have so much respect for her family. I still am in communication with them, so I just want to make sure I’m respectful of that and what her family is going through. She was definitely my first everything. I think subconsciously it’s why I never really date like that because no one really ever… I know someday someone might, but it’s hard to measure up to the type of girl and woman she was.

I read what you wrote about her on Instagram, and it was so beautiful. I’m sorry you experienced that loss.