One can hardly believe that it’s been 25 years since the Hollywood power couple, Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance said "I do" and tied the knot.
With the divorce rate in upwards of 50% in the United States, this loving couple does what it takes to keep it together.
No one knows this better than Courtney B. Vance, as he says it was harder to ask Angela if she liked him than it was to ask her to marry him.
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The college sweethearts met while students at the Yale School of Drama. In the beginning, they weren’t lovers, just friends, as they recall, "the best of friends."
For nearly 14 years they ran in the same collegiate circle and their bond grew deeper and eventually blossomed into a love that neither of them could deny.
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At the time, Vance was in a relationship, and in a 2007 interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," he said he could not remember his soon-to-be wife from their college days.
Bassett, on the other hand, remembered Courtney and his "beautiful ex-girlfriend," who was also a student at the School of Drama.
After college, they went their separate ways, but the "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," star kept track of Vance.
By the time they met fourteen years after the award-winning actress had come to admire the man that would become her husband's work ethic and compassion.
What Bassett didn't count on though, was finding the actor boring on their first date which happened in 1994.
Convinced that she was not going for a second date, and with Vance somehow in agreement, the two were surprised when they ended up at a golf course for that purpose.
Fortunately, it became a turning point for them and three years later on October 12, 1997 they made the promise of forever to each other.
Angela and Courtney married and began the next phase in their lives together as one.
As both their careers began to take off, the couple was blessed with two little miracles – twins born via surrogate after years of trying to conceive.
Despite the pressures of Hollywood they both make time for one thing, their love for God.
"God brought me an angel, a rare ruby," Courtney admits. "And I don't know where I'd be without her. I didn't grow up in the church or in the Bible.
"Nobody taught me how to be married or how to really love a wife. I've learned that the Lord wants a relationship with you, me, and with all of us."
"I had to learn that when the Queen is happy, the land is happy. The man may be the head, but the head doesn't go anywhere without the neck telling it which way to turn it."
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"I've learned that the Lord is first and that my wife is the most important thing on this earth. The decisions in our marriage aren't easier, but they are clearer because of our relationship with God," says Courtney.
"God brought me a husband who loves me," Angela gushes. "But it is because I have a relationship with God, I can have a better relationship with my husband."
When asked what the key to a long marriage is, Angela quickly chimed in.
"Respect and negotiation," exclaimed Bassett. "I want what I want, he wants what he wants and sometimes they’re not the same, but we’ve learned how to negotiate to make each other happy and fulfill our dreams and desires."
"He [Courtney] makes me a better person," confesses Bassett. "He let's me be me and do me. He is a great support person for anyone."
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