Denzel and Pauletta Washington are one of Hollywood’s favorite couples.
They’ve been married for over 37 years, have four children, and for the most part, have not fallen prey to many traps or scandals in Hollywood.
Now, as Pauletta is turning 71, five years older than her superstar husband, we reflect on the woman she was, the woman she is, and the women she inspires just by being herself.
The two first met on the set of the 1977 TV movie Wilma, but it wasn’t until a year later that circumstance (and pure luck) brought them together again that they began laying the foundation for an impressive future together.
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“The first movie I ever did — TV movie — was about Wilma Rudolph, and I played Wilma Rudolph’s boyfriend,” Denzel Washington recalled on Live with Kelly and Ryan in 2018. “Pauletta was one of the track stars,” he continued. “I met her then, but I didn’t meet her then. I saw her then,” he explained.
Shooting wrapped and they went their separate ways. It wasn’t until months later that Denzel would actually meet Pauletta, proving that people come in and out of your life for a reason.
And when they return, they can take on a completely different role.
Recalling their fateful second encounter, Pauletta told the Oprah Show in 1996, “A mutual friend of ours, who was also in the film, had given a party. And Denzel and his friends came at the very end of the party,” she remembered.
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“We spoke again. We were reintroduced.” Then something truly spectacular happened. “The next night, I attended a play, and he was there” Pauletta continued.
Apparently, it took a lot of convincing for Denzel to get Pauletta to accept a marriage proposal. He told Access Hollywood that he had to ask her multiple times.
“You heard it here first,” Denzel said. “She turned me down, she said no. And since it was three times, that means she turned me down twice.”
But as you know, the couple tied the knot nearly 40 years ago and even renewed their vows in South Africa years later with Archbishop Desmond Tutu as officiant.
The couple has welcomed
