Angela Bassett Gets Real About Watching Her Teenage Kids ‘Starting to Date’: ‘It’s Awkward’

Angela Bassett‘s two kids are quickly growing up, and the actress has had to make a lot of adjustments while raising her teenagers. One major change is watching her children, twins Bronwyn and Slater, as they start to date, which Angela said has been a little “awkward” for dad Courtney B. Vance.

“My daughter asked if she could have a boyfriend, so she’s starting to date,” the 62-year-old beauty told Us Weekly ahead of the Diabetes by Heart’s event on Tuesday, May 25. “Sometimes I’ll have the nerve to ask, ‘Have you kissed?’ And she says, ‘No.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, well that wasn’t my journey.”

Angela’s spouse, Courtney, is “all about respect, respect, respect,” so he’s making sure his 15-year-old kiddos know the importance of choosing a good partner. But because the Hollywood star and the Preacher’s Wife actor, 61, aren’t used to this stage of parenthood, it’s been “awkward” navigating their kids’ dating lives. “It’s still sweet,” Angela added.

Bronwyn has already started showing interest in having a boyfriend, but Angela revealed dating isn’t as big of a priority for Slater. Though the handsome young man was a little heartbreaker as a tiny tot, she’s “thinking he’s not interested” right now because he’s more focused on his future career.

“At 3, he was interested. [He would say,] ‘Mom, I like that girl,'” the American Horror Story alum adorably recalled. “But at 15, he just wants to work on his music. He likes to write lyrics and raps. He’s all in on that. And that’s just fine.”

Angela and Courtney have been raising their twins together since welcoming Bronwyn and Slater in 2006. The Lovecraft Country actor, who wed the Golden Globe winner in 1997, opened up about the “new phase” of raising teenagers while exclusively chatting with Closer Weekly in November 2019.

“They’re in everything now,” Courtney explained. “Before my wife and I were going to do this and were going to do this and this and this … Now, OK, you don’t want to do that. Oh, OK, let’s do that. So it’s a new phase for us.”

One major adjustment the lovebirds have made is making sure to have more candid conversations with their twins. “We always said that from zero to 12, children need to hear us and actually do what we ask them to do, and then 13 on we have discussions,” the Ben Is Back actor shared. “So we’re in the discussion phase now.”