One of the funniest couples on television can undoubtedly be found on Tyler Perry’s hit television series, Meet the Browns. The antics of "Leroy Brown" and "Cora Simmons" hits home for a lot of us in many ways.
Grammy®-Award Nominated, NAACP Image Award-Winning Vocalist Tamela Mann and her husband NAACP Image Award-Winning Actor David Mann has been making audiences laugh for decades.
Even on their reality show, “It's A Mann's World,” the show follows the lives of the Texas-based power couple and their family as they juggle their successful entertainment careers, marriage and adventures with the family including their journey to a healthy lifestyle.
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David & Tamela Mann: Through the Years
But it wasn't always fun and games for the loving couple. If you want to see what they looked like before, take a look here.
"It was five years into the marriage, and we had the knock at the door, and surprise," said Tamela.
"I have another child by another woman that happened before our marriage," admits David in a 2018 interview. "But that, just to kind of give a backstory on it...that's where the 'Us Against The World' [album] title and saying came from was from that knock at the door... It was the knock at the door, and Tam was kind of like, 'I'm not going to be able to do this.'"
"Because we're blended," explained Tamela. "We already had, one child when we started out as a couple, and I didn't really know where I fit in.
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I felt like I was going to be kind of lost in the shuffle of things. It's like, well, 'Where do I fit in here?'"
"Once I set her down and had to break it down and explained to her, 'Look, I love my kids,'" said David. "I'm a stand-up guy. I'm going to make sure I take care of my kids. But at the end of the day, you are my priority.
It's us against everything else. It's us against the world. It's us against anything that will come against tearing us apart."
David was born in Forth Worth, Texas and 2018 marks 30 years of marriage for him and Tamela. Both David and Tamela were members of Kirk Franklin's vocal ensemble "The Family" before working with Tyler Perry.
Manning up for his health
Just like many of us would have to, the loving couple had to readjust their lives in order to deal with the news of David being diagnosed with diabetes.
When David found out he had diabetes, it was obviously a shock to the couple. Like so many with diabetes, the challenges of making lifestyle changes can be difficult.
But David and Tamela, who've been married for over 25 years, have managed to find the right balance, make the necessary changes, juggle busy acting schedules, and find the support and strength they need by relying on each other.
“We both lean on each other a lot," David says. "When I am weak, Tamela is strong, and when she is weak, I am strong.”
Like many successful couples, Tamela has been actively making necessary changes to support not only her husband's health, but her own. Not that it's been easy.
In addition to her already busy schedule, the powerhouse vocalist has been promoting her chart-topping, award-winning album, doing her reality show, making appearances, producing new music and still finds time to be a mother.
She also recently made an appearance on The King’s Men Tour with Kirk Franklin, belting out “Now Behold the Lamb.”
Despite everything she has going on, Tamela has also been successful at losing weight, and attributes that success to a lot of hard work and faith.
“I’m trying to keep this weight off,” Tamela said during an interview. “I’m working out. I have a trainer. I’m trying to eat right, not a whole lot of desserts. No sodas."
She also added, "As a family, we all worked together to cut down on sugar and starches and we really watch our portions.”
Visit the BlackDoctor.org Diabetes center for more articles.
