Patti LaBelle Is Ready To Date Again At 78: ‘I’m Too Good To Be Solo’

February 8, 2023
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With less than a week to go before Valentine’s Day, Patti LaBelle is open to finding love once again.

Appearing on the “Jennifer Hudson Show” Wednesday, LaBelle was asked about her dating life, and noted that she was very much single ― and ready to mingle.

“How old am I? 78,” the two-time Grammy winner said. “I was married for 32 years to a wonderful man [ex-husband Armstead Edwards], and we’re still friends, good friends. So I think in life I need to find happiness for myself, other than what I had back in the day with him, which was wonderful.”

Showing a flash of the diva sass that helped make her a R&B legend, she added: “But I’m too good to be solo.”

Catch Patti LaBelle’s appearance on the “Jennifer Hudson Show” below.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9WIED61le0?rel=0&enablejsapi=1]

LaBelle famously proposed to Edwards, a former high school vice principal, in 1969, and the couple were married in Maryland that same year. Edwards became his wife’s tour manager, and the couple had three children together.

By 2003, however, LaBelle said she and Edwards had “realized that we couldn’t live together anymore,” and divorced later that year.

“I never hated him. He never hated me,” she recalled to Oprah Winfrey in 2016. “We just couldn’t live together, not because of physical fights or anything. We never fought, thank God, in 32 years. We got along even when we didn’t get along! But then we realized that we had to leave each other.”

Armstead Edwards and Patti LaBelle in 1986. The couple were married for 32 years.
Armstead Edwards and Patti LaBelle in 1986. The couple were married for 32 years.

LaBelle’s stance on romance has shifted considerably in just two years. In 2021, she told People that she was “not interested” in dating.

“I’m just living my life like it’s platinum,” she said at the time. “Thank God I have a lot of people who care for me. I live alone with my dog, Mr. Cuddles, and I’m looking for love from everybody. I am.”

In her chat with Hudson, LaBelle shrugged off the idea of using dating apps, noting that she already had her eye on a special someone. Still, she has no plans to publicly identify that person anytime soon.

“That’s my personal business,” she quipped.

Dating aside, LaBelle will be hitting the road again this spring as part of a 2023 concert tour. She returns to the stage March 10 in Hanover, Maryland.

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