Quinta Brunson says she ‘hated' the public aspect of her divorce from ex Kevin Anik
Brunson, the comedic mastermind and star of ABC's 'Abbott Elementary,' spoke candidly to Bustle about news of her divorce spreading before she was ready to address it herself. In March, several outlets including The Times reported that Brunson had filed a petition to divorce Anik after three years of marriage.
'I remember seeing people be like, 'She announced her divorce,'' she said, adding, 'I didn't announce anything.'
The Emmy-winning Buzzfeed alumna and Bustle's latest cover star added: 'I think people have this idea that people in the public eye want the public to know their every move. None of us do. I promise you.'
Brusnon also lamented how other details about her private life — including a recent real estate purchase — can be revealed through public records information. 'I hated that,' she tells Bustle. 'I hate all of it.' The 35-year-old comedian, who has also starred in 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' and 'Big Mouth,' has kept most of her personal life private, mainly using her Instagram page to celebrate professional milestones and promote her Emmy-winning series.
She announced her engagement to Anik in July 2020 on Instagram but kept their marriage mostly offline. When she won multiple prizes at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2022 for 'Abbott Elementary,' her husband was among the people she thanked. While accepting the Emmy for writing for a comedy series, Brunson dubbed her husband 'the most supportive man I've ever known.'
Brunson and Anik married in October 2021 and do not share any children. She cited 'irreconcilable differences' in her petition, which did not specify when the couple separated. Her petition also said she and Anik entered a post-nuptial agreement regarding the division of their assets but did not disclose those terms.
Brunson also spoke about setting her own boundaries with devoted but outspoken 'Abbott Elementary' fans when it comes her private life. 'Those are invisible voices that aren't in your home,' she told the outlet, later adding, 'When it comes to matters of your personal life and decisions you make, you do have to tune it out.'
Elsewhere in the interview, Brunson reflected on her ascent from beloved online personality to Hollywood darling and the publicity that comes with it — for better or worse.
'Even if you don't give a lot, people want whatever they can get, and will take whatever they can get,' she said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
19 minutes ago
- New York Times
Rachel Zegler Delights in an ‘Evita' for the Masses
'She's a diamond in their dull gray lives,' sings the Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón of his wife in 'Evita,' Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's sung-through musical about Eva Perón. She was a former matinee star whose popularity among the working classes bolstered support for her husband's government, and 'Evita' expresses some skepticism about political populism. Yet a new revival, directed by Jamie Lloyd and running at the London Palladium through Sept. 6, is emphatically populist in its relentless bombast, heavy symbolism and button-pushing grandiosity. The initially moody staging — industrial gray metal stairs, smoke effects, dark costumes — belies the sensory overload ahead: Balloons are popped; lights are turned up blindingly bright; blue and white confetti rain down on the audience. Rachel Zegler ('Snow White' and 'West Side Story'), making her West End debut, is a delight in the title role, strutting bossily in a black leather bra and hot pants while a chorus — representing soldiers or ordinary citizens — cavorts elaborately around her to a brassy tango-inspired soundtrack, delivered by an 18-piece band. (Choreography is by Fabian Aloise, lighting is by Jon Clark and set and costumes are by Soutra Gilmour.) The show begins and ends with Evita's death from cancer, at the age of 33, in 1952. In the intervening two hours she is goaded and reproached in song by Che (Diego Andres Rodriguez), a wisecracking Everyman in a black T-shirt and cargo shorts, who teases Evita for cozying up to an authoritarian leader and sleeping her way to the top. In one song he quips bitterly, 'Don't you just love the smack of firm government?' (For this impertinence, he is later killed — doused with fake blood, then with blue and white paint, the colors of the Argentine flag.) Evita is portrayed as a cynical, ruthless social climber, and the audience is invited to sympathize with the people she hurts along the way. She unceremoniously dumps a boyfriend — the tango singer Agustín Magaldi (played with hangdog charm by Aaron Lee Lambert, who sings beautifully) — once he has ceased to be useful to her. And she breezily steals Perón (James Olivas, physically imposing but stiff — and thus convincingly military) from his girlfriend (Bella Brown), who sings a doleful song before vanishing, never to be seen again. Much preshow hype surrounded Lloyd's decision to stage the famous scene in which Evita sings the show's signature tune, 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina,' on the theater's exterior balcony; members of the public see the spectacle in the flesh, while theatergoers make do with video footage beamed onto a big screen in real time. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Black America Web
35 minutes ago
- Black America Web
Nelly Attacks Kamala Harris Supporters After Fans Blast Him For Trump Inauguration Support
Nelly and his wife Ashanti are promoting a new unscripted reality television series aimed at peeling back the layers of the pair's relationships and musical careers, along with the requisite press runs. Some fans online have yet to forgive Nelly for appearing onstage during President Donald Trump's inauguration celebration, prompting the St. Louis star to call out supporters of former Vice President Kamala Harris and more. The Shade Room shared a clip of Nelly sitting with Hot 97's Ebro Darden doing promo with Ashanti for the pair's Peacock series, Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together. The clip shows the 'Hot In Herre' artist discussing how he has never endorsed any presidential candidate and pushing back against the assertion that he's a supporter of Trump after the performance. As it often happens with The Shade Room, fans began hurling barbs in Nelly's direction, which got his attention via a lengthy response in where he defends his actions, blasts Kamala Harris, criticized her intteracial marriage, and stood up for Snoop Dogg, who also caught the ire of fans for assumed support of President Trump. From The Shade Room: ''ll put whatever up me and snoop do more in the community and have been doing for over 20 + years against any of you that are just on here talking trash and have no stats to back up what you mean to the community .. from the black families that we employ to the black children that we help every day and all year through our nonprofits, whether we're sending kids to schools on scholarships to HBCU or helping young black boys in la 'gang central ' with his junior football programs which many players have went on to go to the NFL and live their dreams, .. and on top of that we are 'Black Men' married to beautiful Black women with black children .. should be inspiring to most but that some of y'all have a problem with because the 'prosecutor who has probably locked up more black men that we've helped woman of color with the white husband and white kids Did not win the election.. again I reiterate, I did not campaign for anyone. I do not tell people who to vote for. I respect and love our country from top to bottom good and bad… and I am very aware that it's a lot of things in this country that we need to work on the right is too far right and the left is too far left. .. I'm a military baby with a grand uncle who is a Tuskegee airmen and red tail that was very prideful for his country I told you it's my respect for the office meaning any president that calls upon Nelly it would be a honor.. nothing to do with money. Nothing to do with race but if you wanna make it about race, then let's goooooooooooooo I find it very interesting. That's so many of you would dump on the two black men that's married to black women that has black children because the '' woman of color with the white husband and white kids. Didn't win..!! Naturally, Nelly has been getting blasted on the popular Instagram site and across social media for his stance. We've got those reactions below. — Photo: Getty Nelly Attacks Kamala Harris Supporters After Fans Blast Him For Trump Inauguration Support was originally published on 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
New York Post
39 minutes ago
- New York Post
Idris Elba reveals shocking revelation about ‘The Wire'
Stringer Bell isn't a fan. Idris Elba rose to fame on the acclaimed HBO crime drama 'The Wire,' but he recently made a shocking admission: he's never seen the show, and refuses to watch it. 'If I'm really honest, I didn't watch 'The Wire,'' Elba, 52, shared on a recent episode of Amy Poehler's 'Good Hang' podcast. 'I didn't watch it. And I feel bad. It's not that I'm not a fan of it — I was there. I made a show that was, you know, so intense and so real, so important, even though we didn't realize it,' the 'Luther' star added. 'I didn't realize the importance of the show while making it.' 8 Idris Elba on Amy Poehler's podcast in July 2025. Good Hang with Amy Poehler/Youtube 8 Amy Poehler interviewing Idris Elba on her podcast in July 2025. Good Hang with Amy Poehler/Youtube Poehler replied, 'Rarely do we.' Elba added, 'I didn't participate in its celebration as a viewer, as a fan. And so I feel a little bit outside of the club.' 'The Wire' aired on HBO from 2002 to 2008, following various institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, and their intersections with law enforcement. It starred Elba, Dominic West, the late Lance Reddick, the late Michael Kenneth Williams, Wendell Pierce, and a pre-fame Michael B. Jordan. 8 Idris Elba on 'The Wire' in 2005. Moviestore/Shutterstock 8 Idris Elba on 'The Wire' in 2002. David Lee/Hbo/Blown Deadline/Kobal/Shutterstock Elba played the drug kingpin, Russell 'Stringer' Bell. The role was his big break in Hollywood – the Golden Globe-winning actor had previously been in British shows like 'London's Burning' and did small roles such as a 1 episode guest stint on 'Law and Order.' But 'The Wire' put him in the spotlight. Since then, Elba has become a global superstar, and his name has frequently been put forward as a public favorite candidate to be the next James Bond. 8 Idris Elba in 'Luther.' ©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection 8 Idris Elba with John Cena in 'Head of State.' Chiabella James/Prime Poehler told Elba that 'The Wire' was 'a series that changed my life' and told him that she's watched the show at least three times. When she encouraged him to watch it, he said, 'No, man.' 'You can't watch it now?' the former 'Saturday Night Live' star asked. 'But I bet, Idris, I bet you have a feeling about it that you might be kinder to yourself and [the show], watching it now.' 8 Idris Elba at Amazon's 'Heads Of State' World Premiere on Jun 24, 2025. Jackie Brown / 8 Idris Elba on 'The Wire.' Paul Schiraldi/HBO Elba explained, 'It's more that I feel the presence of it all, my life since 'The Wire,' in terms of its impact. So to me, it was almost a bit like I was Stringer Bell. I'm not Stringer Bell, but I also feel like when Stringer Bell died, there was a part of me that died with that character. It's weird for me to go back and watch it.' He added that he hates becoming 'overly conscious' of his performance. 'I like being in it rather than watching it.'
