Denzel Washington and Pauletta Pearson: How cheating rumors couldn't tear down their 40-year marriage
Denzel Washington is a man of many talents. The actor, director, producer, and more have a Cecil B De Mille award, among other lifetime achievement awards sitting at home as reminders of how revered he is in the industry. But off-screen, Washington is just as good as he puts on the real-life roles of husband and father. Washington and his wife Pauletta Pearson's relationship is one for the couple goals section of everyone's scrapbook. Married for nearly four decades, the two have had their share of ups and downs, but never forgotten what matters the most to one another. Proud parents of four and still just as in love with each other as they ever were, Washington and Pearson's relationship is pretty much endgame.
How did Denzel Washington and Pauletta Pearson meet?
Washington and Pearson first me on the setts of 1977's TV movie 'Wilma'. But things didn't spark of immediately. Call it fate or sheer coincidence, but some have dubbed lady luck as the reason that brought the two of them together, making them cross paths a year later, and soon they were building something together. “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.
It wasn't until months later that the two would encounter each other again, as Pauletta told Oprah 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. We spoke again. We were reintroduced.” Then something truly spectacular happened. “The next night, I attended a play,” Pearson continued, before spilling the deets. "I got there late, snuck in and just sat down. I didn't look who was around me, then at intermission, the lights came up and we were sitting next to each other."
Denzel has however quipped that he had brought up going to see a play at the same party where he was reintroduced to Pearson. On Live with Kelly and Ryan, he teased Pearson saying “I had talked at that party, I talked about going to see a play,” he explained. “I went to see the play and at intermission, the lights came up and she was sitting [there]. She said she just happened to go see the play, but…” Laughing, he added: “I’m getting in trouble as I speak!”
Relationship goals
This isn't the first time the couple ever teased each other. And surely won't be the last. Speaking about who paid for their first date, Washington told Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show “I actually paid." Two years later however Pearson was assuring E! News that it was all her. “I paid for the cab ride,” she told the outlet, adding that because “we went to a party [so] there was nothing to pay for after we got there.”
Denzel would like the world to know that he meat to pay “but then I’m watching the meter and I’m running out of money!” Pearson fondly remembers that at this point “He turns to me and says, ‘I have no money!’” Washington quickly clarified, “I didn’t say that!”
Engagement and Wedding
Even their engagement is clouded with confusion over how many times Washington actually proposed to Pauletta before she said yes. The actress told Access Hollywood in 2013 that it was three times before Washington finally got the answer he was looking for. The actor maintains it was just 'Twice!' However, Pearson insists “It was three times. I know with age sometimes things [go], the mind,” she joked. “I turned you down twice and the third time we did it.” But Washington had the last laugh as he said "You heard it here first: She turned me down, she said no. And since it was three times, that means she turned me down twice.”
After a confusing number of proposals and who paid for their first date, their "I do's" finally came in June 1983. For Pearson, as she told Oprah, it was Washingtons' spirit that told her he was the one. "I thought he was cute, but I fell in love with his spirit, really," she told Oprah. "That I saw first and then I thought, hm.. not a bad package you know?"
Washington fondly remembers their wedding day a lot. He recalled on his appearance on Kimmel all the blunders that happened on that day. “We were shaking so many hands, taking so many pictures, they ran out of food,” he told the host, revealing how after the reception, the couple had to eat at a local diner. “We had eggs or something. True story,” he mused. But he too is all praise of Pearson, as he told Extra “I got a good woman–that’s the first thing. You just keep working at it.”
Family life
After their 1983 wedding, the couple welcomed their first child in 198, a son called John David. Their daughter Katia arrived in 1987 and, in 1991, they had twins Olivia and Malcolm. To Washington, his children growing up to become the person they are today is all Pearson's doing. In 2010 he told The Guardian, “My children are good people. They are not perfect, but they are generous and humble and kind. My wife did that.”
Their parenting style has been a "hybrid" as he told In Style, of “what my wife and I learned from our parents." But he added: “my wife’s done a great job. She’s been the consistent one, just trying to give them a normal life.”
Cheating rumors
In 200, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa, and a decade later, in 2013, they were marred by rumors of cheating and infidelity, all of which Washington denied. He however came clean about marriage as hard work. During a Reddit AMA, he answered a fan's question writing, “You have to work at it. Not give up on each other. It’s a commitment. It’s not all the honeymoon, it doesn’t last forever, so you work at it. And hopefully, you’re good friends first, that might help!”
Pearson addressed the cheating rumors much more subtly, as she told Ebony magazine, “I live with this man. I see the down part. I see the sad part. I see every part. He has and knows he has that stability in me as his wife,” she declared. "That gives him strength, regardless of if he misuses it. I can't dwell on that."
Believe it or not, they “go through ups and downs, like any couple” Washington issues, before adding "we live in a time — and it’s not for me to judge anyone — when people give up too easy.” The actor proclaimed “there is no secret to the perfect marriage,” although certain aspects make it easier. What are those you ask? "A spiritual foundation helps everything – marriage, work, peace of mind.”
In 2018 he even quipped o People magazine "I do what I’m told. I keep my mouth shut!” Explaining further, he added, “There are too many things! What pops into my head: security, food, a beautiful home. The difference between a house and a home, it’s a big difference. You can buy a house but that doesn't make it a home - and not to say a man can't make a home, but my wife has made our house a home, and raised these beautiful kids and protected them and sacrificed for them. She did the heavy lifting."