Ali Wong thankful for supportive ex-husband
Ali Wong is thankful her "amazing" ex-husband's support helps her lead a "non-traditional" life.
Ali Wong is thankful her ex-husband's support helps her lead a "non-traditional" life.
The 42-year-old comic - who has daughters Mari, eight, and six-year-old Nikki with former spouse Justin Hakuta - has never worried about what anyone thinks of her apart from her family and knows her lifestyle can be "challenging" to her own mother, but there are people in her life who make the juggle easier.
She told the new issue of America's InStyle magazine: “For someone like my mother, I think it can be challenging, because she’s 84, you know? In her time, you weren’t really supposed to live a life for yourself. It was all about sacrificing and servicing everyone else before you.
"I’ve never cared as much about what other people think, but I do care a lot about what my family thinks.
"It’s mostly because of her and the father of my children that I’ve been able to do everything I do, but it’s also because of her that I sometimes struggle with being ‘non-traditional'.”
Ali noted her relationship with Justin - who became her tour manager last year - is "unconventional" but she thinks he is "amazing" as both a person and a dad.
She said: “I understand that some people really need to cut the cord, but that never worked for me...
“Divorces are like snowflakes, there’s truly no two alike.”
The 'Beef' actress acknowledged her success has made it easier for her to juggle her personal and professional commitments because she can afford help.
She said: “I was so fortunate that by the time I was going on tour, like, my first big tour, I had the means to pay for my kids to come with me."
Ali - who is dating Bill Hader - favours comedy gigs over acting roles because they give her more time to be with her children.
She explained: “I can put the kids down, rush out, do a set or two, and then be there in the morning."
Ali asked her mom to accompany her when she is on tour after taking advice from singer Lauryn Hill.
She said: “I met Lauryn Hill a couple of years ago, and talked to her about touring with children, and she talked to me about how she brought her mother everywhere with her, too.
“In [2005’s] 'Dave Chappelle’s Block Party', after she performs, there’s a part when the audience asks her where she’s been, and she points at her baby in the background and says ‘that’s where I’ve been.’ I think it’s her mother carrying the baby.”
