Wednesday, February 14, 2007

From Today's Oprah Show!

I know ya'll are going to tune in to the Oprah show today, but just in case...Heres some preview pictures and excerpts from the interview:


Hollywood couple Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance have been married for 10 years, but it took more than 20 years—and one really bad date—before they realized that they might be soul mates.

Courtney and Angela first crossed paths 24 years ago in graduate school at Yale University. She noticed the "alluring" Courtney, but he didn't remember Angela at all. Years later, Angela was in a play with Courtney's then-girlfriend. Again, there was no romance. Over the next decade, Courtney's career took him to Broadway and Angela moved to Los Angeles, where she eventually landed her Oscar®-nominated role in What's Love Got to Do with It.

After running into Courtney in 1994, Angela agreed to go on a date with him. "Dare I say, it wasn't memorable," Angela says. "He just seemed like a really, really nice guy, which translated [to] 'kind of boring.'"

But after a second date at the driving range, something clicked and they spent the rest of the week together. Angela says she felt like a teenager after their first kiss, complete with "pinpricks and chills." Angela then flew to Milan, where she replayed the kiss over and over in her mind. At the same time, Courtney flew to his mother's retirement party in Detroit with exciting news. "I had to go to tell my mom that I think I've found my wife," Courtney says.

Exactly one year after that life-changing first kiss, Courtney and Angela married. Because they knew the relationship was special, they decided to abstain from sex until marriage. After spending their wedding night together, Angela left the next day to film How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

The couple says their marriage is strong because they keep "God in the middle." Angela even had "GOD" inscribed on her wedding band between her and Courtney's initials. "I can only rely on his strength," Angela says. "I'll attempt to see [Courtney] even in those moments that aren't perfect, perhaps in a small way, the way God sees him."

Despite their busy Hollywood careers, Courtney and Angela also work to keep the ego that often accompanies being in the business out of their marriage. "I'm proud of the accolades that he receives," Angela says. "And that is something we had to navigate early."

Courtney says he used to let worries about their careers take over. "I had to acknowledge that she's first," Courtney says. "We've got to decide what we want first and then that calmed me down."

When Courtney and Angela decided to start a family, they eventually turned to fertility specialists for help. After seven years of visiting in vitro specialists, getting shots and other treatments, the news was not encouraging.

Still, Angela remained optimistic. "I wanted it, but I couldn't hold onto it so that I was devastated when it didn't happen," she says. "I had to remain hopeful and resilient and, 'Okay, let's do it again.'"

The couple's path to parenthood was forever changed after a conversation Angela had with a friend. "She said, 'Angela, guess what? We're five months pregnant.' And I was, like, 'You are?'" Angela says. "So she began to tell me about the idea of surrogacy."

Angela brought the idea up to Courtney, and they decided to think about it. "The more we learned about it, the more we began to think that perhaps this was an answer for us," Angela says.

Courtney and Angela are the proud parents of twins Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah.

Courtney says he always knew they would have twins. "I had a dream about seven years ago that we were going to have twins," Courtney says. "I didn't know how it was going to happen."

Angela says the twins' birth was an amazing experience. She remembers the sights, the smells and the people who were there—and the feeling that her and Courtney's dreams have come true. "Just standing there together, holding each other with the realization that this is the moment that we've been working toward, praying for," she says.

Courtney says becoming a parent has only strengthened his marriage. "It just means we've got to be more clear in terms of what we're about and the decisions that we have to make," he says.

6 comments:

Chi-Chi said...

her children are gorgerous!

Chi-Chi said...

her children are gorgerous!

Anonymous said...

I am so sad! I missed it!

Manda said...

oh don't worry, I'll have the video up on the blog Friday. This is a must see for everyone. And yes the twins are two cute ;-)

Anonymous said...

Manda, you are amazing!

SimzBrazil said...

Well join the club, I missed it too! How I could do all this preparation to watch the show and tell ya'll to do the same and then I miss it!?!? I dont know.

But Manda is known to do her wonders. :D

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails