Diggs: Hate Mail Drama Defused
Taye Diggs, the stage, film and TV star, has been coping with some very real drama.
He and his wife, Tony-winner Idina Menzel, have gotten hate mail spurred by their interracial marriage.
But Diggs, star of the new hit UPN drama "Kevin Hill," told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, "The authorities came in and took care of everything. There are a couple of wack jobs out there. We appreciate the support, but everybody handled it very well. Everybody's fine. It's all good."
That's not the only adversity the couple has faced in recent weeks.
Menzel, as one of the stars of "Wicked," fell through a trap door during the Saturday matinee of the Broadway musical and cracked a lower rib.
"She's so strong," Diggs says. "She has such massive upper body strength. She fell and immediately grabbed herself, and was basically dangling from the stage door opening until somebody came and lifted her up. …She had to chill out for a couple of weeks, but she'll be just fine."
On a brighter note, they just celebrated their second anniversary.
And both will take part in the film version of the Broadway mega-hit, "Rent."
They met while they were starring in the show eight years ago.
"Chris Columbus is directing" the film version, Diggs notes. "A lot of the original cast members, Jesse Martin, Adam Pascal …all the folks are coming back. I'm really looking forward to that."
Diggs made women swoon with his roles in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "The Best Man" and the Oscar-winner, "Chicago."
In the new UPN drama, "Kevin Hill," he plays a hotshot lawyer suddenly thrust into fatherhood when he's left to raise the 10-month-old daughter of his cousin, who unexpectedly passes away.
He notes his character switches jobs because he has to "downgrade and try to slow things down. But at the same time, he's having a difficult time leaving all of the fun aspects of living the single life: the parties, the girls, the ball games, the hanging out with the fellows. So that's the struggle and that's what is so fun about playing this character."
How is it working with babies? "I enjoy it. It's unpredictable. They take over the scene whenever you shoot. So whatever they want to do, everybody has to do. But it's fun and, for an actor, it kind of keeps you on your toes."
Diggs is modest when Storm says he's widely viewed as a sex symbol. "I must be hot. Sizzling!" he says.
Yet, in junior high school, he was anything but: "I was really skinny and wasn't confident," he admits. "But, you know, after college and my first couple of projects, I kind of grew into myself and got some self-confidence."