Ciara isn’t the only person who claims she prayed for her soulmate. Academy Award-winner Viola Davis recently revealed that she, too, made a special request to the man above for the love of her life. During a recent sit down with Oprah Winfrey in an upcoming Netflix event, the “Fences” star revealed what she said weeks before meeting her now-husband Julius Tennon.
At the suggestion of a close friend, Davis told Winfrey she prayed for the type of man she saw herself with whose characteristics included “a big Black man.”
“He said, ‘Viola, even the vacuous stuff, just put it all in there. Looks, everything,'” she recalled of her friend’s instruction. “I said, ‘Really? With God? I gotta tell him that?’ He’s like, ‘Yes. You gotta put it all out there.'” Davis told the longtime talk show host, “I went, and I got on my knees.”
The “Help” star went on to list the requirements she gave to God, noting that she wanted “ a big Black man from the South who’s probably been married before. Has kids because I don’t want any pressure in that department.”
Davis said she also required familiarity, “Someone whose maybe been an actor who understands the artistic community,” and “Someone who goes to church and loves God. I said, ‘If you give me that, I’ll start going to church, God. I really will. I’m committed to it.’ And then I signed off, just like writing a letter.“
Three and half weeks later, the “Suicide Squad” actress met “Julius from Texas.” The star said Tennon was an “ex-football player, been married, raised his children on his own, was an actor. [He] invited me to church. And I thought to myself, Whoa.”
The couple tied the knot in 2003, and seven years later, they adopted their daughter Genesis, now 11 years old. However, as Davis had prayed, she is also stepmom to Tennon’s two children from previous relationships.
That discussion and more on Davis’s forthcoming memoir “Finding Me” can be heard on “Oprah + Viola: A Netflix Special Event,” premiering on Netflix Friday, April 22. Meanwhile, the actress currently portrays former first lady Michelle Obama in the Showtime series “First Lady.”
