

From Yale To The Oscars: Courtney B. Vance & Angela Bassett’s Love Blossoms Into Its 25th Season
Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney B. Vance have one of those timeless love stories that prove an A-list marriage in Hollywood can stand the test of time. They met as classmates at the Yale School of Drama in the '80s and have remained peak relationship goals for each generation they have reintroduced themselves to throughout the years.
Since, the duo has accumulated years of accolades as a team (Vance winning his second Emmy in 2021, and Bassett’s highly-anticipated first Oscar win for Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which takes place this weekend). We love them because they exemplify Black Love in definitive terms, and they value family and privacy despite starring in blockbuster shows and movies for decades.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
And the best part is that their marriage is a real-life fairytale, complete with making their way back to each other years after initially meeting.
Here's the relationship timeline of Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance’s love over the years:
1980s
Angela and Courtney were first introduced to one another at the Yale School of Drama. Vance had already obtained his BA from Harvard and attended Yale alongside Bassett for their MFAs. Their initial meeting in grad school wasn’t in a romantic capacity, as at the time, each of them was dating other people.
Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance in 1999.
Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Online USA
1990s
Roughly 14 years after meeting, the two had a reunion in LA, which was the first time the two had a budding romance. Bassett told People, “I was single. He was single. And I had such an appreciation for him over those years — of his consistency, how he treated other people, of what a supporter he is, what a connector of people he is, how passionate he is.”
The high-profile romance as we know it today almost didn’t happen, revealing first date details to Oprah, Bassett recalled, “Dare I say, it wasn’t memorable. He just seemed like a really, really nice guy, which translated to kind of boring. That was it. Wasn’t going to give him a second thought.”
The Vances eventually got married in 1997, trading off his and hers box office smashes --he starred in movies such as Dangerous Minds, The Preacher’s Wife, and Space Cowboys, and she, Malcolm X, The Jacksons: An American Dream, Boyz in the Hood, and What’s Love Got to Do With It.
Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance in 2002.
Keith D. Bedford/Getty Images
2000s
After seven years of IVF, the pair’s children, fraternal twins Bronwyn and Slater were born in 2006, via surrogacy. A year later, they co-wrote a book about their relationship titled, Friends: A Love Story, where they opened up about the difficulties they’ve faced in becoming parents, Angela telling Oprah in 2007 after welcoming the twins, "I had a dream about seven years ago that we were going to have twins. I didn't know how it was going to happen. Just standing there together, holding each other with the realization that this is the moment that we've been working toward, praying for … [it's a dream come true]."
Bassett regularly shows off the twins, who are now 16 years old (omg!), on Instagram. Bronwyn reps the 2022 Los Angeles Team Member of the Year title for her work in raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Slater is a musician, releasing music and even an album in 2021.
Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance in 2022.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association
Present Day
The Vances celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a party, surrounded by family and friends in October of 2022, joining the ‘forever teammates’ class with other long-term couples such as Denzel and Pauletta Washington, Grant Hill and Tamia, and Magic and Cookie Johnson.
And although 2023 may be Auntie Angela’s season as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is up for a string of awards, Vance is never far away, admiring his wife and filming her speeches on his phone.
“We’ve had successes, we’ve had failures; we’ve had spectacular wins, we’ve had devastating losses … But through it all, there’s been one, beautiful constant: We’ve always had each other!" Angela wrote in an Instagram post celebrating their anniversary.
A 25-year energy I wish on us all.
Happy 25th anniversary to the Vances!
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by John Sciulli/Getty Images for FIJI Water
- Angela Bassett Says Women Should Always Be Optimistic About Love ›
- Angela Bassett On Why She Is Choosing The ‘Soft Life’ With Husband Courtney B. Vance ›
Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Why Do Millennials & Gen-Zers Still Feel Like Teenagers? The Pandemic Might Be The Reason.
There’s nothing quite as humbling as navigating adulthood with no instruction manual. Since the turn of the decade, it seems like everything in our society that could go wrong has, inevitably, gone wrong. From the global pandemic, our crippling student debt problem, the loneliness crisis, layoffs, global warming, recession, and not to mention figuring out what to eat for dinner every night. This constant state of uncertainty has many of us wondering, when are the grown-ups coming to fix all of this?
But the catch is, we are the new grown-ups.
As if it happened without our permission, we became the new adults. We are the members of society who are paying taxes, having children, getting married, and keeping our communities afloat, one iced latte at a time. Still, there’s something about doing all these grown-up duties that feel unnaturally grown-up. Enter the #teenagegirlinher20s.
If there’s one hashtag to give you the state of the next cohort of adults, it’s this one. Of the videos that have garnered over 3.9M views, you’ll find a collection of users who are overwhelmed by life’s pressing existential responsibilities, clung to nostalgia, and reminiscent of the days when their mom and dad took care of their insurance plans.
@charlies444ngel no like i cant explain to her why i had to buy multiple tank air dupes from aritzia #teenagegirlinher20s #fyp
The concept of being a 20-something or 30-something teenager is linked to the sentiment of not feeling “grown up enough” to do grown-up things while feeling underprepared and even nihilistic about whether that preparation even matters.
It’s our generation’s version of when we ask our grandmothers how old they are and they simply reply with, “I still feel 45,” all while being every bit of 76 years old. In this, we share a warped concept of time while clinging to a desire for infantilization.
Granted, the pandemic did a number on our concept of time. Many of us who started the pandemic in our early or mid-20s missed out on three fundamental years of socialization, career development, and personal milestones that traditionally help to mark our growth.
Our time to figure out and plan our next steps through fumbling yet active participation was put on pause indefinitely and then resumed provisionally. This in turn has left many of us hanging in the balance of uncertainty as we try to make sense of the disconnect between our minds and bodies in this missing gap of time.
Because we’re all still figuring out what the ramifications of being locked away and frozen in time by a global pandemic will have on us as a society, there really is no “right” way of making up for lost time. Feeling unprepared for any new chapter of life is a natural rite of passage, pandemic or not. However, it’s important to not stay stuck in the last age or period of life that made sense to us because self-growth is the truest evidence of personal progress.
So whether you’re leaning on your inner child, teenager, or 20-something for guidance as you fill the gap between your real age and pandemic age, know that it’s okay to grieve the person you thought you would be and the milestones you thought you’d hit before you ever knew what a pandemic was. If there’s anything that the pandemic taught us, it’s that we have the power to reimagine a better world and life for ourselves. And if we tap into our inner teenager as a compass, we can piece together our next chapter with a fresh outlook.
Sure, we’ve lost a couple of years, but there are still some really amazing ones ahead.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Stephen Zeigler/Getty Images