Laverne Cox Shares The Reason She Doesn’t Drive, And It Comes With An Emotional Twist

Laverne Cox won’t be driving into the fast lane anytime soon.

The “Orange Is the New Black” alum revealed on a recent visit to the “Jennifer Hudson Show”that driving isn’t a talent of hers.

“I do not drive, Jennifer,” Cox admitted to host Jennifer Hudson, before revealing she “has had her learner’s permit twice.”

But this story isn’t just about Cox’s inability to drive — it’s also about a love that took a turn for the worse during 2019’s Pride celebrations in New York City.

“It was the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, so I was booked and busy that week,” Cox recalled, referring to the site of a 1969 police raid that became a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

She went on to explain that she arrived in New York City on a Sunday, and by that Monday night, her boyfriend revealed that he wanted to part ways. Still, Cox made it over this speed bump and fulfilled her media duties.

“I remember waking up in a puddle of tears, calling my therapist, and I was a wreck,” she said.

But, ever the professional, Cox powered through, only to face another hurdle: a driving lesson.

“I was going to do a lesson on Tuesday and a lesson on Thursday, right before … after that, I would go and take my driving test,” she said.

“I’m in the car on Fifth Avenue and, like, 21st Street, and the teacher’s like, ‘OK, now turn into the traffic,’” Cox recalled. “I look and I see a big bus, it’s like almost rush hour, and I was like, ‘I can’t do this … I’ll pay you for your time.’ Cox said. “I was that Viola Davis meme picking up the purse out of the back seat, and I got out of the car, ‘I can’t do this.’”

The emotional weight of the breakup was certainly a factor in Cox’s performance, and she admitted to going home afterwards and letting out a healthy cry.

“There is no way, with the trauma of the breakup, could I get behind the wheel of a car, and possibly kill myself or somebody else,” she said.