Key Takeaways
- Gilbert Arenas pushed back on a colorism accusation, questioning why excluding darker-skinned partners carries a different cultural meaning than rejecting other complexions.
- His wife, Melli Monaco, explained that colorism reflects the historic discrimination darker-skinned people face and the advantages often afforded to lighter skin.
- Arenas insisted that “everybody got color”; he married Monaco, a French-born Black content creator, in January 2025 and shares four children with ex Laura Govan.
Gilbert Arenas defended his dating preferences after a viewer branded him a colorist during a recent livestream. The former NBA star challenged both the accusation and the way colorism is defined, asking why attraction to certain complexions becomes controversial depending on which skin tone is excluded.
“Why does that have to be the color?” Arenas asked on We Said What We Said. “Why couldn’t it be like a light skin or a brown skin or Hispanic or what?”
The moment unfolded after Arenas, his wife Melli Monaco, and former NBA player Nick Young drifted into a larger discussion about marriage and relationships.
When Monaco read a comment calling her husband a colorist, Arenas initially asked what the term meant, then joked, “I like nice colors.” Monaco explained that the label is generally applied to people who favor lighter-skinned partners while rejecting darker-skinned women.
Arenas wasn’t satisfied with that distinction. “So, if you like every color but the one color, there’s a problem,” he said. “But if you like the one color but don’t like the other one, you’re fine?”
He then suggested the term had been arbitrarily created, prompting Monaco to explain that the issue is rooted in the different treatment darker-skinned people have historically faced. “Usually the darker skin are the ones who have the issues being discriminated against,” she told him. “Usually light skin gets passes.”
Arenas’ response centered on the colorism accusation and his confusion over why rejecting darker skin carries a different cultural meaning than excluding other complexions. “They got brown, beige, redbone, yellow, white,” Arenas said. “Everybody got color.”
Arenas’ own relationship history adds another layer to the discussion. He shares four children with former Basketball Wives LA cast member Laura Govan, whom he dated from 2002 to 2014. Govan has described herself as half Mexican and half Nigerian.
Arenas later married Monaco, a French-born Black content creator, in January 2025 after announcing their engagement the previous summer.
