Tia Mowry explains why her viral red carpet run-in with ex Cory Hardrict was awkward

Tia Mowry is shedding some light on her awkward red-carpet encounter with ex-husband Cory Hardrict that made them go viral.

The pair crossed paths at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards on March 7, and once they spotted each other on the red carpet, things got very awkward when he walked over to greet her.

After seeming to hesitate, the two finally leaned in and gave each other what fans called a “church hug,” an embrace in which a male and female avoid pelvic and chest contact.

While recalling that moment on her new reality TV show, “Tia Mowry: My Next Act,” Mowry said the response to her encounter with Hardrict on the carpet was “blown way out of proportion.”

“This was the first time that Corey and I had ever seen each other on the red carpet since the divorce. This is an event where women are being celebrated and honored, and he had never gone to any one of these events,” she explained. “I go to them almost every year. It was blown way out of proportion, and we actually went viral.”

Mowry said that the online scrutiny, and people creating their own “narratives” about what led to her divorce with Hardrict, really affected her.

“I became fixated on what people thought, what people were saying, what people were thinking. ‘Oh, God, the real reason Tia asked for a divorce.’ Really? Do you know the real reason?” she said in response to one of the headlines.

After repeating a few other salacious headlines about herself, she added: “And if I’m being very honest with you, it made me mentally ill.”

Mowry’s awkward encounter with Hardrict after their split was captured and shared as a reel on HuffPost’s Instagram account.

Online, people shared their takes on the interaction in the comments of the Instagram post.

One wrote that the interaction pointed at how a couple’s dynamics change after a split: “Crazy cause we be so in love and then we be like … do I know you?”

Other fans said the interaction didn’t seem stilted at all. One fan wrote, “What’s awkward about it? Nothing seemed awkward to me.”

Another wrote, “They both look like they’re handling their split.”

Mowry and Hardrickannounced in October 2022 they were divorcing after 14 years of marriage.

“I have always been honest with my fans, and today is no different. I wanted to share that Cory and I have decided to go our separate ways. These decisions are never easy, and not without sadness,” Mowry wrote in her initial Instagram announcement.

She concluded the post by saying, “We will maintain a friendship as we co-parent our beautiful children. I am grateful for all the happy times we had together and want to thank my friends, family and fans for your love and support as we start this new chapter moving forward in our lives.”

Six months later, their divorce was finalized. The exes co-parent their two children, daughter Cairo, 5, and son Cree, 12.

During a visit to TODAY with Hoda & Jenna in November 2023, she described the moment she knew the marriage was over.

“I knew when I really started to focus on my happiness,” she said. “I feel like women, we tend to focus on everybody else’s happiness, making sure that everybody else is OK — meaning our children, our friends, our family.”

“But at the end of the day, it’s about self-love. When you start to really work on yourself, love yourself, know your value and know your worth, then all of a sudden, there’s this awakening. And it’s not easy. It’s a hard journey, but at the end of the day, I feel like it is so, so worth it,” she continued.

She called her divorce a “gift” for her kids in an interview with Hello Beautiful published June 28.

“A part of my decision was also for them,” Mowry said of her divorce. “For them seeing their mother walk in truth. I feel like it’s a great lesson for them because it was not an easy decision. It was one of the hardest decisions that I had ever had to make in my entire life. But if they see that mommy can do it, that mommy, no matter what people say, no matter, even if there’s some sort of doubt, whatever, mommy pushed through. (They can say) my mommy is living and chasing her truth. I want my children to do that.”

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