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Mary J. Blige has been in enough relationships, including public ones, to have learned something about the right and wrong way to go about things when it comes to love. So when she shared some dating advice for fellow single women struggling to meet their right match in big cities like LA, our ears perked up. According to the 48-year-old singer and actress, she’s learned that the key to navigating the dating scene is being confident in yourself. Oh, and it’s also imperative that you keep your goodies to yourself for as long as you can.
“Treasure yourself,” she said in an interview with BlackTree TV. “Like, wait. Don’t give it away so fast. Make them wait forever for it. All of it. Just have confidence in yourself and they’ll see it in you. They’ll treat you like that. But if you’re not confident, they’ll treat you like that.”
Facts. And Blige knows the struggle. She’s back on the prowl herself.
“I do know. Being a single woman it’s like, ‘back to keeping it all to myself.’ Don’t just give it to anybody [laughs],” she said.
But the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul may have already found someone new. While in London to attend the BAFTA Awards this past weekend, Blige was snapped by paparazzi holding hands with an unknown man. He was dressed in some very interesting traditional African attire and smiled as they were whisked past photogs by security. According to reports, the man, tall, dark and handsome, who hasn’t been further identified just yet, accompanied Blige to the BAFTAs: Vogue x Tiffany Fashion and Film afterparty, traveling there in his bulletproof Mercedes and with his security team. Sounds like he might be someone of influence — or at least with some serious coin.
Blige has been back out on the dating scene since she filed for divorce from Kendu Isaacs in 2016. The divorce was finalized in 2018 after contentious proceedings, which involved the star having to fork over a great deal of spousal support.
“I’m living. I’m not happy about a lot of things. I thought someone loved me, right? Turns out, he was a con artist and he didn’t, and now he’s coming after me for all my money,” she said in 2017 during a chat with Variety. “When you come out of something like that, you realize you were never the one. There was someone else that was his queen. I got played. I got suckered. I have to keep smiling and keep my spirits up because this is designed to kill me.”
