'They’re doing great': Joey Lawrence opens up about brother Matthew’s relationship with TLC singer Chilli

Joey Lawrence's wife Samantha Cope has also given her seal of approval regarding Matthew’s relationship with Rozonda Thomas
PUBLISHED FEB 4, 2023
Joey Lawrence (L) approves of his brother Matthew Lawrence's relationship with TLC singer Chilli, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images, Rick Kern/Getty Images for Fast Company)
Joey Lawrence (L) approves of his brother Matthew Lawrence's relationship with TLC singer Chilli, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images, Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images, Rick Kern/Getty Images for Fast Company)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Joey Lawrence has approved of his brother Matthew Lawrence's relationship with TLC singer Chilli. “Matt’s happy, Chilli’s happy,” he reportedly said in a recent interview. The 46-year-old actor further described the 51-year-old performer as "chill as hell" and called her a great match for Matthew, 42. 

“Look, I’m not a fortune teller, you know what I mean? But I know …. all I want is for them to just be happy. So as long as that’s working, awesome. That’s all that anybody wants, you know. I think they’re doing great …. I love the fact that right now they’re super happy, so that’s great,” he told PageSix. It is not just Joey but his wife, Samantha Cope, have also given the singer, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas, her seal of approval. When asked if the couple has gone on double dates with the new romantic pair, Joey and Cope said, “That’s one of the things that we are going to do. But we’ve hung out together and we went and saw her show — which was great — at the Hollywood Bowl a couple of months ago.”

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When did Matthew and Chilli begin dating?

Matthew finalized his divorce from the 'Dancing With The Stars' dancer Cheryl Burke in September 2022. Only a few months later, in January 2023, he confirmed that he was dating Chilli. The pair reportedly became involved romantically just before Thanksgiving 2022. 



 

In a statement to People in January, Chilli's longtime rep Christal Jordan confirmed her client was, in fact, dating Matthew. “I’ve been with Chilli since 2005 and I’ve never seen her this in love. She is glowing. They are really cute together,” she said, adding that the pair spent Thanksgiving together in Atlanta where the ‘Boy Meets World’ star met the ‘Waterfalls’ singer’s family. 

(L-R) Musicians Joey Lawrence, Andrew Lawrence, and  Matthew Lawrence of The Lawrence Brothers attend the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards which broadcast live on Turner's TBS, TNT, and truTV at The Forum on March 5, 2017 in Inglewood, California.
Joey Lawrence has approved of his brother Matthew Lawrence's relationship with TLC singer Chilli (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

'Life is full of unexpected twists and turns

In a recent conversation with People to promote his new movie 'Frankie Meets Jack', Joey described Matthew’s new girlfriend as a “sweet person” and super genuine.” Joey told the outlet: "She's great, a sweet person, super genuine, so warm and kind. And yeah, they're just having a great time and it's just good to see him happy and he makes her happy. So that's all you can ever ask for.” 

Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, Singer-Songwriter, TLC attends the Fast Company Grill on March 11, 2019 in Austin, Texas.
It is not just Joey but his wife, Samantha Cope, have also given the singer, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas, her seal of approval (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images for Fast Company )

Matthew and Chilli were photographed on a beach in Hawaii in August 2022. "Life is [full of] unexpected twists and turns — you don't know what's up next, but you just hope that everybody ends up happy," Joey told People in February 2023. "And he's happy right now and she's happy, and that makes us happy."

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