Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson have a love story that spans five decades. During that time, they raised a daughter, built successful careers in the entertainment industry, and did one of the most revolutionary things they could do.As students in Atlanta, Georgia, the pair came into each other’s orbit through their involvement in the civil rights movement in the late sixties and officially met in 1968.
Richardson remembers that Jackson had a “huge afro” when she spotted him on a plane en route to a march in Memphis. Robert Culp and Bill Cosby recruited the students for the mass action following the shooting of Martin Luther King.
Jackson had noticed her before and had made enough inquiries to know that she was a “city girl,” a group of students that lived off campus and carried themselves with a different air than most of the student body.His initial impression was that, as an Atlanta native, she was “kind of aloof.” The actor was impressed that she was a “revolutionary.” The couple began dating in 1970 and tied the knot a decade later.
The couple gets asked what the secret to their longevity frequently, but Richardson believes that if people stop and think about it, “they’ll have the answer of how you live every day. It’s the same thing.” She explained:
“Yes, when you are together, there is a lot of compromise and a hell of a lot of amnesia. But at the same time, it’s just like you get up every day and live with your family once you have made the decision.”
The Tony-nominated actress elaborated that it all comes down to having made that decision, “Okay, this is what it is going to be. And you just stick to it.”At the beginning of their relationship, they discussed how “the most revolutionary thing that Black people could do was stay together” and raise their children in a nuclear family, as some “pretend that that’s not the dynamic of the African American family.”
Thus, the couple, who welcomed their daughter Zoe Jackson in 1982, made a pact always to stay together and figure things out along the way.
In joint interviews, the pair has a playful dynamic, but both are respectful not to chime in when the other is talking. They have collaborated professionally in different capacities.Last year, Richardson directed her husband in the Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson” by August Wilson. She would often give him notes in the evening over dinner. The director illuminated:
“That’s an easier time to do it because that’s the time that we usually spend together.”
They have also teamed up to produce “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,” a limited series about a man with Alzheimer’s and dementia, for Apple TV+. It is a personal subject matter for Jackson, as his grandfather and mother had Alzheimer’s.
Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson’s Adorably Conflicting Engagement Stories
The Jacksons have two engagement stories, his version and hers. Going on “The Jennifer Hudson Show” in May 2023, Jackson recalled that Richardson already had invitations printed, and when giving him a stack, she said, “Be here.”
She remembers it very differently. In 2020, she explained on “The Graham Norton Show” that her grandfather was very ill and concerned that she was the last grandchild who had not gotten married.The performer told Jackson he needed to ask her grandfather for her hand and propose. The Broadway actress contended that it was semantics.
“That’s probably what happened,” the actor admitted when he rehashed his wife’s version of the story to Jennifer Hudson, “because I was on drugs, and I probably didn’t know what the hell was going on at the time.” He added:
“So, she’s probably right!”
Despite this, he still likes his interpretation better, as “it sounds so much fun.” The pair had a massive wedding on a Monday because they both were in productions. Jackson departed for London, England, the next day to act in “Ragtime.”
Richardson had 23 bridesmaids made up of friends who were “dancers and singers, and people who performed.” Her betrothed said he did not even have 23 friends, so he asked his friends to bring along some of their pals to make up the numbers.The wedding was “a production.” The “Pulp Fiction” actor joked that it was reviewed in the theatre section of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Best show in town that night. We killed it.”
Jackson has shared a photo from the 1980 wedding on social media where the newlyweds are cutting into their multi-tiered cake. Richardson wore a long-sleeved white dress with a turtleneck, her head adorned with an ivory headpiece.
Smiling beside her, the actor donned a white suit with a long jacket and a white shirt and tie. The boutonniere, the only pop of color, was fashioned from a red rose and fern.
Celebrating their 43rd wedding anniversary this year in August, the actor wrote, “I think we can make 43 more!!! Love everlasting!!!!!!” He also quipped on Instagram Stories, “It’s 53, really. She test-drove me for 10!! I passed.”
Samuel L. Jackson Was ‘like the Troll in the Basement’ during His Battle with Addiction
In a cover story for People in March 2022, Jackson honored his wife’s positive role in his life, saying, “She gave me the chance to be the man I was supposed to be.” He had become a drug addict early in their marriage and essentially moved into their brownstone’s basement. “I was like the troll in the basement,” the star remembers, adding:
“Every now and then, I’d come upstairs and hover around to do something. I was addicted and being crazy.”
Richardson found him a spot in a rehabilitation center and supported him through recovery. While he praised her for sticking with him at the time, she would never have thought to do otherwise. She believes it was her God-given duty to help him.