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COURTNEY & ANGELA
Sweet Love:
Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett have managed to make their marriage work—well. Listen in as one of Hollywood’s most private couples lays out their love like an open book.
Their latest project was not something that was actually planned or the result of some late night pillow talk. Vance, who has starred in such films as The Preacher’s Wife and on TV’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was in New York having a boys’ night at Wynton Marsalis’s crib when an agent rolled up on him and suggested that he and Bassett do a book about their relationship.
The result is a book that not only tracks the couple’s lives before and after they met, but also gives insight on how they and others can keep a marriage and/or relationship alive and thriving.
“People want to jump from hello to intimacy,” Bassett says emphatically. “That’s not going to work. Love at first sight can happen, but it’s rare.”
“It took time for us to grow together and make this commitment,” adds Vance. “It took 13 years for us to realize that it was each other.”
The couple initially met at Yale Drama School. Bassett, a native New Yorker who was reared in Florida, was in her final year when Vance, a recent Harvard grad from Detroit and his longtime girlfriend, actress Ahren Moore, arrived. As an incumbent and one of a handful of minorities in the drama school, Bassett, her boyfriend Charles “Roc” Dutton and John Tuturro took a few newbies out to a local club to school them on Yale 101 for the pigmented set. That’s where she and Vance met for the first time.
“No sparks or anything,” she recalls. “It was just a social thing to get them acclimated to the school and tell them what’s what and who’s who. Besides, he had a girlfriend and I was seeing someone at the time, and he was really jealous.”
Although their paths would cross many times in the ensuing years while they were on the road doing plays, it wasn’t until Vance moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s that he and Bassett started running into each other more frequently. In 1994, Bassett was just about to start shooting Waiting to Exhalewhen she bumped into Vance at an L.A. jazz club.
“ I barely remember that,” Vance says after his wife mentions it. “I asked for your number?”
“ Yes, you asked me out,” she reminds him.
That was the start of something slow. Both recall being very nervous on their first date at a local restaurant. Bassett was very worried about dating the ex-boyfriend of her friend and colleague Ahren Moore, and Vance was concerned about the difficult transition of going from friends to lovers.
“ I was like, ‘I hope he don’t like me. He’s going to get his feelings hurt,’” she says.
Wonder why they’ve been able to make it work for so long? Check out this month’s issue of Upscale!
The result is a book that not only tracks the couple’s lives before and after they met, but also gives insight on how they and others can keep a marriage and/or relationship alive and thriving.
“People want to jump from hello to intimacy,” Bassett says emphatically. “That’s not going to work. Love at first sight can happen, but it’s rare.”
“It took time for us to grow together and make this commitment,” adds Vance. “It took 13 years for us to realize that it was each other.”
The couple initially met at Yale Drama School. Bassett, a native New Yorker who was reared in Florida, was in her final year when Vance, a recent Harvard grad from Detroit and his longtime girlfriend, actress Ahren Moore, arrived. As an incumbent and one of a handful of minorities in the drama school, Bassett, her boyfriend Charles “Roc” Dutton and John Tuturro took a few newbies out to a local club to school them on Yale 101 for the pigmented set. That’s where she and Vance met for the first time.
“No sparks or anything,” she recalls. “It was just a social thing to get them acclimated to the school and tell them what’s what and who’s who. Besides, he had a girlfriend and I was seeing someone at the time, and he was really jealous.”
Although their paths would cross many times in the ensuing years while they were on the road doing plays, it wasn’t until Vance moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s that he and Bassett started running into each other more frequently. In 1994, Bassett was just about to start shooting Waiting to Exhalewhen she bumped into Vance at an L.A. jazz club.
“ I barely remember that,” Vance says after his wife mentions it. “I asked for your number?”
“ Yes, you asked me out,” she reminds him.
That was the start of something slow. Both recall being very nervous on their first date at a local restaurant. Bassett was very worried about dating the ex-boyfriend of her friend and colleague Ahren Moore, and Vance was concerned about the difficult transition of going from friends to lovers.
“ I was like, ‘I hope he don’t like me. He’s going to get his feelings hurt,’” she says.
Wonder why they’ve been able to make it work for so long? Check out this month’s issue of Upscale!
OMG Ange dated Charles “Roc” Dutton?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteand she knew her husband since way back when?!?!
keep up the good work on your blog, Lady S!
LOL! Ms. Chi Chi, I flipped out just like that when I read it. I cant even believe Angie dated Charles Dutton!! They dont even seem compatible, plus hes the jealous type?? O unh unh. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support, girl. I love your blog!
Mr. Bachelor,
ReplyDeleteUsually I'd combat your comment and defend Angela. But I've read the book, Friends, and your analysis seems pretty correct. Angela was the 'seducer' in the relationship. She was attracted to him because he was such an amazing actor, but she also said she felt compassion for him being in prison and then coming to Yale.
I still think it says alot that she was with Charles for over 3 years. But you have to read the book to find out the demise of their relationship. Pretty DRAMATIC!
p.s. I must say though that nobody wants to sleep with a killer. Women dont say "hay a murderer! Lets go out!" They say "hay a sweet man thats had a hard-knock life. Maybe I can help."
ReplyDeleteMe, personally, I'd say "Theres too many men out here that HAVENT gone to prison for me to be worried about you. 'Friends: NOT a Love Story'" :D