How 10 Of Your Favorite Black Couples Met And Fell In Love

When it comes to couples who've been together for more than a "minute," as I like to say, one always wonders two things: What their secret is to staying together and how they met. Sometimes it's as simple as a brief encounter, other times it's something cute, like a couple meeting in college. So how did some of our favorite pairs meet? We did some digging and figured out the origins of their love stories. Here's how these Black couples met and fell in love.

Denzel and Pauletta Washington

The classic couple, married since 1983, married after meeting on the set of his first on-screen effort, the television film Wilma about Wilma Rudolph. They both had roles in the project.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry

Steph and Ayesha met when they were teens, encountering one another in the cutest way: while in a church youth group in Charlotte when they were 15 and 14. They would go on to marry in 2011.

Samuel Jackson and LaTanya Richardson

The iconic actor and Richardson originally met while he was attending Morehouse College and she was a student at Spelman in Atlanta. They would go on to marry in 1980.

Jada Pinkett and Will Smith

The couple, married in 1997, met in 1994 when she auditioned to play Lisa Wilkes on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That role would go to Nia Long (Jada was thought to be a little too short alongside the star), but Will and Jada became friends and then a couple in 1995.

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance

The couple, who wed back in 1997, met while they both studied at the Yale School of Drama.

Keisha and Omar Epps

While it's unclear the full story about how they met, the pair met in 1992 while trying to get their start in the industry. At the time that they dated, things ended quickly and Epps said in the past that he looked at her as "the one who got away." They would eventually reunite in 2004 and marry in 2006.

Beyoncé and Jay Z

The star couple met when Beyoncé was just 18 and started dating when she was 19. Bey never explained how the two first encountered one another but said that she took her time before dating him. "We were friends first for a year and a half before we went on any dates," she told Oprah Winfrey. "We were on the phone for a year and a half and that foundation is so important for a relationship."

Michelle and Barack Obama

The former First Couple met while she was killing it at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin and she was assigned to mentor him when he was brought on as a summer associate. They married in 1992.

Tamia and Grant Hill

While Hill was playing for the Detroit Pistons, he was introduced to singer Tamia by legendary singer Anita Baker. They would go on to marry in 1999.

Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe

The pair met when Kodjoe played Parker's love interest on Soul Food the series. As she said, "When Boris walked into our first rehearsal, I thought of him as the really hot guy that got to play my boyfriend in the first couple episodes," she said. "But for some reason we connected and found it easy to talk to each other and laugh and be comfortable." They would go on to marry in 2005. Images via WENN 

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