Marlon Wayans Talks Grieving The Loss Of His Mother

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Marlon Wayans is keeping it real about his grief in the wake of losing his mother, Elvira Wayans. As well as why he never chose to marry.

In a sit-down with the New York Times, Wayans spoke openly about the personal losses he explores in his new standup special Good Grief. 

“It wasn’t just the death of my parents. I lost 58 people that I loved in a matter of three years. It felt, like, biblical.”

Though the Wayans family also lost their patriarch, Howell, it was the loss of Elvira that struck Marlon the deepest.

“My mother’s death broke me. It shattered me into a million pieces, because that was my girl,” he said. “I never got married, because I never wanted my mother to be jealous of a woman. I never wanted my mother to feel second to any woman.”

Wayans was with the mother of his eldest children for two decades. He also revealed that he told his mother that he always wanted her to feel like his “No.1 girl” on her deathbed.

In true Wayans fashion, he also got candid about some of his more off-color jokes, including references to Magic Johnson‘s HIV diagnosis.

“I didn’t say he had sex with monkeys. I said, I don’t know how he got this good version of this disease, but however he got that, I want that,” he said. “I don’t care how he got it. It could have been a girl. Could have been from soup. It could have been from — show me the monkey he [expletive], I got next. To me, that was escapism. Because it’s not real.”

He continued,

“I hope that Magic laughs the loudest at the joke. Which he will. Magic has a great sense of humor. I think part of it is, it’s all out there.”

Well, ok then.

Wayans also opened up about his journey to accepting his trans son.

“I went through it, and the transition wasn’t about their transition. It was my transition — going from opposing what they wanted to complete acceptance. It was the five stages of grief,” he said. “I felt like I was losing my daughter. My daughter was dying in my eyes. I speak about this in a very hilarious, irreverent way.”

Though the White Chicks actor revealed that he had to process his own emotions, he also said that arriving at the acceptance stage took him “all of a week.”