NEWSLaverne Cox Defends Staying With Pro-Trump Ex for Years Despite Political Differences: 'I Wanted to See Him as a Human Being'
Laverne Cox used a codename when talking about her ex in her book.
June 8 2026, Published 5:14 p.m. ET
Laverne Cox was grilled on The View over her past romance with a man who had wildly different political views than herself.
The topic came up on the Monday, June 8, episode of the series as she dished on her new memoir, where she refers to her ex as "Giuseppe."
'People Show You Who They Are'
Laverne Cox reflected on dating a pro-Donald Trump police officer.
"What was the biggest lesson you took from that relationship?" asked Alyssa Farah Griffin, to which the actress replied after a pause, "People show you who they are eventually."
"When it started out, there was a beautiful, amazing guy who treated me better than any man I had ever met," Cox explained, noting he was a Donald Trump supporter who initially lied about his job as a NYC police officer.
The Actress Ended the Relationship
The actress felt the need to end things after realizing the two had value differences.
"We didn’t plan to fall in love, but we did," the Emmy winner continued.
Cox decided to stay in the relationship since she "already had feelings for him, and I wanted to see him as a human being, beyond that."
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'Our values were really, really different,' Laverne Cox recalled.
In the end, "his politics and unexamined life became clear after the three and half years," leading them to split.
"I love him, but I love myself more," she realized. "And staying in this relationship, I'll betray myself. Not just my political values, because, in theory, I’d like to believe we can have relationships across political differences, but there was a value difference. Our values were really, really different."
The Orange Is the New Black alum also cited the "un-interrogated patriarchy and toxic masculinity" as reasons for the breakup.
Laverne Cox admitted things are 'really bad for the LBGTQ community' under Trump's administration.
Elsewhere in the chat, co-host Ana Navarro asked Cox how allies can help as Trump issues executive orders targeting the transgender community.
"It's bad. It's really bad for the LBGTQ community," the Doubt star admitted, noting she was "not surprised by any of it" since many of the things the administration is doing were outlined in Project 2025.
'We Are Real People'
The TV star admitted she wasn't surprised by Donald Trump targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
Cox noted that transgender issues as "framed as a distraction... but we are real people."
She went on to highlight the problems that have risen, such as transgender adults not getting proper healthcare and people having issues with gender markers on official documents like their IDs.
"We're all in this together, and we have to remember that. Because the same regime that is taking away trans rights is taking away everyone else's," she declared.
