A decades-long romance. Angela Bassett and husband Courtney B. Vance met as classmates at the Yale School of Drama in the 1980s, but the duo didn’t spark a romantic connection until years later.
“I didn’t run into Courtney again until 1994,” Bassett said during a 2007 CBS interview. “I was out with some friends, and he was too. It was like, ‘Hey! Great to see you.’”
The pair decided to go on a date after reconnecting, but according to the Black Panther actress, Vance didn’t make much of an impression on her at the time.
“He just seemed like a really, really nice guy, which translated to kind of boring,” she explained.
However, as the Golden Globe winner later recalled in her and Vance’s book, Friends: A Love Story, things started to fall into place after their first kiss.
“I got pinpricks and chills up the back of my thighs and across my butt, up my neck and across my scalp,” she wrote in the 2007 bestseller.
The lovebirds went on to tie the knot in October 1997 and welcomed twins — son Slater and daughter Bronwyn — in January 2006. Years later, Bassett admitted to being the “good cop” parent whereas Vance is “consistent” although still “pretty calm.”
“I tell [my kids], ‘I am your good time, so you don’t wanna mess with me,’” the What’s Love Got to Do With It star said during an April 2021 appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden.
Although the two actors continued to juggle parenthood and busy careers over the course of their relationship, they made sure not to lose sight of their priorities.
“Our focus is on our children and what we need to do as a family. Careers and things follow that,” Vance exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2019. The Law & Order: Criminal Intent alum also shed some light on the secret to his long-lasting union.
“It’s, ‘Yes, dear. How can I help? What do you need me to do,’” he quipped at the time.
Bassett, for her part, wrote in Friends: A Love Story that she credited the couple’s success to picking the “right person” to marry. “Make sure you’re both looking in the same direction, basically. You’re not clones of each other, but you have similar or closely similarly belief systems and, you know, pleasant personalities,” she explained.
In October 2022, the pair celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary surrounded by loved ones.
“25 years … When we first got married, we couldn’t wait to say we made it to 10 years! Now look at how far we’ve come!” the Malcolm X actress captioned an Instagram video of the occasion.
She continued: “We’ve had ups, we’ve had downs; we gained two amazing children; but lost cherished family members and friends … We’ve had successes, we’ve had failures; we’ve had spectacular wins, we’ve had devastating losses … But through it all there’s been one, beautiful constant: We’ve always had each other!”
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Scroll through for a look back at Bassett and Vance’s love story:
