Love is patient. Love is kind. Anyone with a praying grandmother can probably finish the rest. The Bible has pretty much given us the blueprint to what love should be, but the Good Book never claimed that it would be easy, and in a recent interview with MadameNoire, Iman Shumpert revealed that his marriage to R&B singer Teyana Taylor is a testament to this fact.
He explained that while everything is good in their hood, there has been some assembly required when it comes to making their love work:
"We fight for it, man. Honestly. We try to always give off a good energy and keep certain things private, but we never lie about how hard it is."
Iman explained that while he and Teyana, who gave birth to their first child in 2015 and married a year later, are consistently a vibe and give us our entire lives on social media, they have had to work through their own share of conflict in real life.
"We've faced some tough times, overcome some tough stretches. Marriage is a constant body of work. You're going to be proud of it. You're going to step back and be like, 'Wow. It makes you love somebody more because you can't believe you got through certain things. You're not glad it happened, but you are glad it happened type of thing because you feel closer."
The athlete shared that it's because of their ability to grant each other grace in times of disagreement that they've been able to keep their marriage stronger than Teflon, even in times of weakness:
"We constantly trust that no matter what we go through, we're going to end up closer. You've got to fight for that. You can't be weak about it. It's going to be some stuff that can really scar you and really cut you deep. There's going to be some stuff that you just, it annoys you and you just don't want to be a part of. Your partner is going to be hurting and you as the other partner can't fix it. It's not for you to fix, it's for you to be there, for you to be a rock. You've got to be a partner and say, 'I'm going to hold it down.'"
Regardless of any disagreement that Iman and his wife have throughout the course of their marriage, the NBA player is adamant that their commitment to one another (and baby Junie) will conquer all:
"People will say they hold it down, but they don't know what holding it down is. Really, holding it down hurts a lot of times and it's because you don't all the way have an understanding. But like I said, chasing the understanding between two people, especially once a kid is involved, I could live for that. I could live for that."
As arguably one of the most fashionable couples in the game, Teyana and Iman never fail to come through giving us big Black love energy and we are here for every minute of it.
Featured image by Jamie Lamor Thompson / Shutterstock.com