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Idina Menzel got her big break when she played Elphaba, the younger version of the Wicked Witch of the West, in the original Broadway cast for the hit musical Wicked in 2003. Since then, she has gone on to become a global star, most recently being praised for her role of Elsa in Disney’s Frozen and Frozen II. Despite having what would seem like the perfect career to many, Idina has had her own share of personal struggles, like her divorce. Read on to learn about Idina’s first husband, Taye Diggs, and second husband, Aaron Lohr.
Taye Diggs
Taye and Idina met while working together in 1995 on the Broadway musical Rent. They struck up a romance and then walked down the aisle in 2003. The couple continued working on Broadway and off-Broadway in film and television roles, including the 2005 film adaptation of Rent, in which they reprised their roles of Maureen and Benny. The power duo welcomed their first and only child into the world in 2008: son Walker Nathaniel Diggs.
Unfortunately, their love faded and they announced their separation in Dec. 2012. “Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs have jointly decided to separate at this time,” the couple’s representatives revealed to People magazine at the time. “Their primary focus and concern is for their son. We ask that you respect their privacy during this time.”
Just a few months earlier, the Glee actress opened up about how much effort it took to keep her marriage going strong. “We work at it,” she said in April of that year. “I’m not going to glamorize it or glorify it – we go through tough times like everybody else, but we love each other very much. We try not to be away from each other for more than two weeks at a time, and we try to find new ways to communicate.”
The pair finalized their divorce by the start of the new year. In April of 2014, Taye commented on the fact that the divorce caught fans off-guard. “I’d be lying if I said there weren’t times when I thought, ‘Oh, man, people are going to trip out [if we split],’” he admitted to Redbook magazine. “Maybe they thought it was cute that we met in Rent. There weren’t a lot of couples like us in the theater community—and I know there aren’t a lot of performers as talented as she is… and then you have the whole mixed [race] thing. It was easy for people to root for us. Right now, we’re still trying to figure out a lot of stuff because we’re on different coasts and our son is getting older.”
Idina commented on the fact that she and Taye were bi-coastal and living 3,000 miles apart in a 2013 interview, and she admitted it was no easy feat. “It’s hard trying to make the decision to keep [Walker] in LA so he can go to school with his friends. He would be with a babysitter or have to travel to me to New York where I am rehearsing all day — but at least he’s with Mommy. It’s those kind of decisions that torture me all the time,” she divulged to People.
Idina has of course moved on to Aaron, while Taye dated Selling Sunset star Amanza Smith right after his separation from Idina. The relationship only lasted five months. He appears to be single as of this writing. Taye has gone on to act in a handful of TV series such as Murder in the First, Empire, and All American. He has also appeared in films including 2017’s Til Death Do Us Part, 2018’s River Runs Red, and 2020’s Incarnation, among others. He also notably appeared on The Celebrity Dating Game in 2021.
Aaron Lohr
Aaron is an entertainer like Idina, and they met while working on 2005’s Rent movie adaptation. They also coincidentally co-starred in the 2005 off-Broadway musical, See What I Wanna See. Of course, their relationship was simply platonic and business.
However, that all changed when they reconnected and began dating shortly after Idina and Taye’s separation. Similar to Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson, Aaron and Idina made their red-carpet debut at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., in April 2015. In Sept. 2016, Idina announced that Aaron popped the question for her hand in marriage. “As if this week couldn’t get any better I have wonderful news… my man and I are engaged! We are so happy. It’s a beautiful time,” she tweeted.
A year later in Sept. 2017, Idina surprised fans by announcing that she and Aaron had tied the knot. “Wanted to let you know… Married the love of my life #aaronlohr this weekend @ our home. Dad & son walked me down the aisle. It was magical,” she tweeted.
And in an interview just weeks after her wedding, Idina opened up about what it’s like to be married to Aaron. “He’s my guy,” she gushed to People at the Disney/Pixar premiere of Coco. “Family, to me, means being able to be yourself, sit back on the couch and relax, and watch a movie with the people that know you better than anyone else in the world.” She then explained that her son Walker and Aaron have a sweet bond and were probably home having loads of fun without her. “They’re very close,” she noted. “They’re probably watching a film, or they run around play dodgeball with a sock, they make a ball out of socks and they hit each other.”
Lohr has a handful of projects under his belt, and he’s best known for voicing Max Goof in 1995’s A Goofy Movie and as Dean Portman in the Mighty Ducks films. He also played Mush in Disney’s 1992 film adaptation of Newsies. He has slowed his roll on the acting front, though, and is now the clinical director at Avalon Malibu, a mental health and addiction center in Los Angeles.