Though he’s had multiple relationships over the years, Marlon Wayans has never tied the knot. Why? Because he never wanted another woman to come between him and his mother.

The 49-year-old entertainer opened up about his personal life in a recent interview with Essence’s Brande Victorian. Wayans recalled one of his last moments with his mother, Elvira Alethia, who died last year at age 81.

“My mom passed, and on her deathbed, I said, ‘Can I tell you something, woman?’” he said. “She was in a lot of pain and she was fighting to stay alive, or fighting to go. And I said, ‘I’m 47 years old, and I’ve never been married because I always wanted you to be my No. 1 girl. My mother turned over, she looked at me, she grabbed my hand, she pulled me close to her and said, ‘I know. I love you too.’”

He continued: “I never got married because I knew my mom needed me. Women sometimes want to battle for your attention, they want to battle for your love, they want to be the one. Me and my mama share the same birthday. I’m not trying to hear you.”

Wayans shares two children with Angela Zackery, whom he dated for more than two decades. He told Essence the idea of marriage never appealed to him because it seemed finite.

“I like things to bend and not break, and I feel like when you get married, you have to get divorced in order to either be separated or together,” Wayans explained. “I like friendships because you just learn each other and you just grow and you just get better.”

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