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Donald Glover Reveals Why He Changed His Mind About Marrying His Long-Time Partner

In a slight twist on art imitating life, Donald Glover revealed that his work as the titular character John Smith in the hit Prime Video series, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, inspired him to change his mind about marriage.

The actor, 40, who not only stars in the series but is also one of its creators, revealed in the Feb. 7 issue ofThe Hollywood Reporteralongside his co-star, Maya Erskine, that he was a married man, something he said was prompted in part by his time working on the show. "There was a day where I don’t think we had to be on set until noon or 1, so, I was like, 'Can we get married today?' I got married in the morning. We had a real wedding afterwards, too. [That night, though,] we went to our favorite restaurant and then her parents and my mom were waiting for us at the house."

It was a stark contrast from an interview he had for the same publication seven years prior, where he pronounced he didn't believe in marriage despite having an unfulfilled dream of becoming a wedding planner. "It doesn’t serve the purpose that I would want it to serve," Donald said about marriage to THR in 2017.

What prompted such a change? Growth, and, according to Donald, some real conversation.

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(L-R) Donald Glover and Michelle White attend the Los Angeles premiere of Prime Video's 'Swarm'

"I think what happened was, well, number one, I didn’t know what I was getting out of it. I felt like I knew what she was getting out of it, and I didn’t feel like she was being honest, necessarily, about what she was getting out of it. I was thinking about it in such a silly way, which I see now. Now I realize, yeah, maybe she’s gaining some stuff, but she’s also losing a lot of stuff," he explained in the 2024 interview with the publication.

"And we eventually had an honest talk and she was like, 'I’m a traditional woman,'" Donald elaborated. "And when she said that, some part of me was like, 'And I want to help you be that.' Whatever she needs me to be, that makes me happy. Especially nowadays, finding trust is so hard, and the fact that we have this and that we can even argue about it and still be like, 'But I love you' — I mean, how many people have that?"

Donald, who keeps much of his personal life private, has been with his wife, Michelle White, since 2015, when the two started dating. In the years after, they welcomed three sons, Legend, Drake, and Donald III.

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(L-R) Donald Glover and Michelle Glover attend Amazon Prime's 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'

At Donald's revelation to the outlet, Maya, the actress playing his opposite as the Mrs. Smith to his Mr. Smith on the Prime Video series, shared her own perspective of his impromptu nuptials, saying, "There’s something really nice about choosing to stay with the one that you’ve chosen and keep growing. And the other thing is, we both had kids before getting married. And to me, that’s the big union."

Donald added, "It’s a very romantic thing to be like, 'Oh, I can be your knight in shining armor and you’re letting me, you’re being vulnerable for me.' And we just kept talking about those kinds of things on this show because we were all getting married. [One of the show's creators] Fran, too. It’s funny, in the Atlanta writers room, we were all anti-marriage."

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is now streaming.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 - Official Trailer | Prime Video

Two lonely strangers land a job working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world ...

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Season 1 - Official Trailer | Prime Video

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