Taye Diggs opens up about split from Idina Menzel

Actor Taye Diggs has opened up about his split from Idina Menzel for the first time, confessing he was afraid fans would "trip out" over their break-up because they were an "easy couple to root for".

Diggs and Frozen star Menzel surprised fans last December (13) by announcing they were separating after nearly 11 years of marriage.

The couple first met while starring on Broadway in Rent in 1995, and African-American actor Diggs tells Redbook magazine he feared fans' reaction to their separation news because devotees have followed their romance for over a decade.

He explains, "I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when I thought, 'Oh, man, people are going to trip out (go crazy) if we split.'

"Maybe they thought it was cute that we met in Rent. There weren't a lot of couples like us in the theater community - and I know there aren't a lot of performers as talented as she is... and then you have the whole mixed race thing... It was easy for people to root for us."

Diggs has since relocated from New York to Los Angeles to film his new TV series Murder in the First, and he admits the former couple is still trying to work through the challenges of bringing up its four-year-old son, Walker, as Menzel stars in Broadway musical If/Then.

He says, "Right now, we're still trying to figure out a lot of stuff because we're on different coasts and our son is getting older."