Sanaa Lathan

As Told to Saidah Petrie
Photograph by Matt Doyle

Men say: If I were a professional athlete, there’s no way I could be monogamous.

Sanaa Lathan says: Your profession should never dictate your integrity. The stereotype is that all athletes are womanizers. But the truth is there are a number of athletes, and a number of men out there, who want to be in a monogamous relationship. You are who you are—you are not your profession.

Men say: It’s not a deal breaker, but all men want a woman who can cook well.

Sanaa Lathan says: That’s not an issue for me, because I can burn in the kitchen—meaning “burn” as a good thing. [Laughs.] I can cook my ass off. I grew up with a father whose hobby was cooking, so I always saw it as a masculine thing. If I didn’t like to cook, and a guy looked at me and said, “You can’t cook, so I don’t like you,” I would look at him and say the same thing back.

Men say: I could never date an actress—it would be difficult for me to trust her.

Sanaa Lathan says: If you’re insecure, you’re going to have trouble trusting your woman going to her 9-to-5 job—men are everywhere. If you look at statistics, women are cheating almost as much as men. So it has nothing to do with being an actress. [Laughs.] I’m a big believer of not living by your fears. What you fear, you attract, in every aspect of life.

Men say: Telling you that you’re not my usual type doesn’t mean that I am looking for someone else.

Sanaa Lathan says: I don’t really have a type, so I would believe him. It’s good to step outside of whatever you’re used to. If you look at the guys in my past, they don’t resemble the guy that I’m dating now. If we have a great attraction, then that’s what he should pay attention to, instead of dwelling on guys I’ve dated before.