On this week’s DIVA Dating Digest, we have a look at this friends-to-lovers storyline
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE VIA INSTAGRAM (@JESSICABETTSMUSIC)
Niecy Nash has been a force on screen since she landed her first role in the 1995 comedy-drama film Boys On The Side. Since then she’s starred in everything from Reno 911! to Claws to her more recent role in Netflix’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. She’s been nominated for Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and had more accolades than we can list here.
Jessica Betts put her name on the map when she won the singing competition series The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott in 2005. Since then she has been blessing our ears with great music.
So, how did these two superstars meet? And, more importantly, fall in love?
2015: The pair become friends
Niecy and Jessica met and bonded over social media as friends at first way back in 2015. What sparked the connection? Their shared love of music. Niecy came across a video of Jessica singing in the documentary The Same Difference, and thus their friendship began.
The pair even appeared on an episode of the crime drama Claws (which Niecy starred in) together during their friendship.
July 2020: Niecy and Jessica get en-gay-ed
On an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk in 2021, Niecy revealed that Jessica is the only woman she has ever felt attracted to. In July 2020 the pair were skinny dipping when Jessica turned to Niecy and said: “If anybody’s gonna be getting on my nerves, it’s going to be you. Marry me.”
However, it turns out that Niecy was also planning to propose too! We love a double proposal.
August 2020: The couple tie the knot
In an announcement which sent shockwaves through fans, Niecy and Jessica got married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony! The pair said “I do” nearly a year after Niecy’s divorce filing from ex-husband Jay Tucker, and Niecy was practically glowing with happiness. She captioned a shot of them walking down the aisle with “Mrs. Carol Denise Betts 💍 @jessicabettsmusic #LoveWins🌈”
She told PEOPLE magazine at a later date the details of the big day: “I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life. I love who I love. At one point in my life, I married twice and I love those people.”
She continued saying “And today I love this person. I’ve done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way. So my choice now in a partner has nothing to do with who I’ve always been. It’s a matter of who I am in this moment.”
March 2022: The pair become the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of Essence
The couple made herstory when they posed for Essence’s Black Women In Hollywood issue together. Posing nude on the front cover, the pair told the magazine about their incredible connection.
“What I was and am still attracted to is Jessica’s soul,” Niecy said in their interview. “She was the most beautiful soul I had ever met in my life. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine going through life without it.”
May 2022: Niecy gushes about Jessica on the red carpet
In a red carpet interview with PEOPLE magazine, Niecy couldn’t help saying how happy she was with married life. “I love being married so much, but I also love being married to Jessica,” the actress told PEOPLE. “She is the wind beneath my wings in more than one way.”
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