Marques Houston Responds To Backlash Over Marrying Miya Dickey

Marques Houston is finally opening up about his controversial marriage to Miya Dickey whom he wed when she was 19, two years after their initial introduction.

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The actor and singer is the latest celebrity to be featured on TV One’s hit series, Uncensored, where he’s talking all about his controversial marriage to a woman who is 20 years his junior.

Houston says he was 37 years old when he met his 17-year-old wife-to-be. Just two years later, the pair tied the knot on August 24, 2020, and ever since, Marques has been accused of grooming her.

In a promotional clip for his upcoming episode of Uncensored, Marques talks about meeting Miya, where he insists his connection with his wife is nothing weird, but rather, a spiritual connection that they both felt once they started talking after she turned 18.

“Me and my wife’s situation is a little different. How we met through mutual friends and everything like that,” Houston explains in the clip. “When I met my wife, she was 17. So, we no really conversation…no really connection until…you know…she was of age.”

While Marques acknowledges the backlash, he insists he didn’t start talking to Miya until she was 18, connecting with the teenager over their shared love of God and music.

He continued: “People don’t understand it and I got a lot of backlash for marrying someone that was 19. When we did finally start to talk I was like, ‘This woman is like me’ and when I would talk to her she’d just…For one…we had a spiritual connection and I feel like that’s the most important thing. We both love God. We both love Jehovah and that was key.”

“Being able to start being around her and talking to her we connected through music,” Marques said. “Her spirit, her kindness, her heart reminds me a lot of my mom. You know we connected on so many different levels.”

This is not the first time that Houston has defended his marriage.

The singer previously penned a lengthy statement explaining that he only fell in love with Miya, who is like a daughter to Chris Stokes and the friend of Stokes’ biological daughter, in March 2019 when she was an adult.

“Miya is like a daughter to Chris Stokes because we are all like family,” wrote Houston in 2020. “Being a Jehovah’s Witness, we all showcase true love like family. That’s it. Chris’ real daughter, Chrissy Morales became friends with Miya in 2018, where we all first met Miya at a Jehovah’s Witness convention.

“It was then that Chrissy and Miya became friends. Miya and I didn’t start dating until she was an adult. We fell in love and got engaged in March of 2019. My dad Michael loves her, and the people I am closest to all love her as well. Most importantly we have Jehovahs blessing.

There is so much more to be concerned about in the world, than creating rumors about me. No one ever gets facts anymore, they just run with “stories”, but hey, I guess it comes with the territory 🤷🏾‍♂️. So to all the rumors about me, none of it is true! And that’s the story.

No twists, no turns, no scandals, just true love.”

The new season of TV One’s Uncensored kicked off on Sunday, April 2. This season’s lineup includes Tevin Campbell, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Eric Benet, Meagan Good, and Lil Wayne.