Bel-Air is back, and with it the two troubled relationships that have been at the center of the predominantly teen drama for the past two seasons: Will (Jabari Banks) and Lisa (Simone Joy Jones) and Hillary (Coco Jones) and Jazz (Jordan L. Jones).
In the first three episodes of season three, which premiered on Peacock on August 15, Hillary and Jazz initially struggle to remain just friends after ending things, stealing a kiss despite Hillary now being reunited with her ex LeMarcus. Eventually, even remaining cordial with one another proves difficult when Jazz calls Hillary out as a coward for running from her feelings for him which results in another blow-up.
Asked at Peacock’s Bel-AirBBQ kicking off season three of the series whether Jazz is too good for Hillary, Jordan says, “I don't think that necessarily, I just think that we have different goals and what we believe in is different.”
“Sometimes in life, you can really love somebody, you really have fun with somebody, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, it's like, do I believe in what you believe in at all times, and also, can I deal with that?” he tells xoNecole. “Does Jazz think that she's a coward? Of course, he does. But Jazz has a lot of flaws as well. I think [him thinking she’s a coward] also comes from his insecurities of like, ‘Oh, you don't want to be with me. You want to be with that guy. Oh yeah, you're a coward.’”
xoNecole caught up with the cast of #Belair to talk season 3!
Jordan was mum on where things might end up with the pair as the season goes on, much like Simone when it comes to Will and Lisa who struggle to make time for the relationship that they say they want to have again with Lisa in swim training and Will working at the country club while pursuing entrepreneurial efforts with Carlton (Olly Sholotan) over the summer.
“That first time you light up and you see somebody, it's hard to let go of, no matter if you are the best for each other or not,” says Simone of the effect Will and Lisa have on one another. “You learn a bulk of your lessons from that, whether they're good or bad, or it's the hard way or the easy way. I think that's kind of what they capture, a spark, and this is the first time that they line up in that way.”
While each of their characters may struggle with alignment, Simone and Jordan are clear on what they hope to see happen in future episodes of Bel-Air. With Joseph Marcell, a.k.a. Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, set to make a cameo this season after appearances from other cast members of the original sitcom, Tatyana Ali (Ashley) and Daphne Maxwell Reid (Aunt Viv), in seasons one and two, the pair hopes the actors who first portrayed their characters– Nia Long and DJ Jazzy Jeff—will guest star one day in the reboot as well.
“They're just great people, a great family,” says Jordan of DJ Jazzy Jeff. “[Jazz’s] son has chopped up with me before, like, ‘yo, man, I really mess with you, bro. Make the family proud.’ I was like, ‘Yes, I got you, bro. I got you.’ I would love to see him. I don't know where they would place him, but that would probably be a great dynamic between me and him.”
Adds Simone, “Nia Long always has a place. Wherever she wants to be.”
“Literally!” confirms Jordan.
Watch the full interview with Simone and Jordan in the video above.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak
