Sherri Shepherd and Johnny Gill are putting the rumors about their alleged relationship to bed.
When New Edition appeared on the comic’s daytime talk show on March 21, Shepherd made sure her first order of business was to address the murmurs of her and Gill secretly dating almost a decade ago.
“There’s this one rumor that I gotta clear up,” she stated.
“’Cause, Bobby, every time I see you, you go, ‘You coulda been my sister-in-law, you coulda been my sister-in-law, you coulda been my sister-in-law.’ So I gotta ask the man, ‘Were we ever dating, Johnny?’” she asked as she made the “My, My, My” crooner the center of attention.
As the audience erupted into laughter and let out oohs, Gill’s group members implored him to “come on with it.” In response, Gill asked, “Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, so you don’t remember that night?”
As a photo of the two appeared on the screen, Gill said, “The proof is in the pudding.” Shepherd and everyone else in the studio were humored by the banter.
“I made one joke, I made one joke about seeing your tour bus, and the next day it was like Sherri and Johnny Gill dating. I was like wait, for real?” recalled the “Harlem” actress.
But Gill was not done adding to the sensationalism of the moment. “Remember we took a picture on my bed and we was like, ‘Ooh yeah,’” he added before Shepherd ultimately moved forward with the interview.
While it seemed obvious that both Shepherd and Gill were having fun with the rumor, fans still felt there was some romantic truth being left out of the recollection. They wrote:
“That boy Johnny want some chocolate covered Sherries.”
“Umm but @sherrishowtv you really didn’t deny the night tho.”
“Loved this episode !!!Sherri you need to explain about the sitting on the bed ! I think you dated in the past legends!”
“Johnny got you blushing.”
Years ago, the LSG vocalist addressed speculation regarding his and Shepherd’s connection.
“Sherri’s a good friend of mine,” he told MadameNoire in 2015. “Sherri’s like homie. I love to laugh and what I like to surround myself around [is] people that love to laugh, look at life, and can look at things and find humor,” he added.
The former “The View” co-host also spoke with the outlet about the rumor that year.
“I’m not dating Johnny Gill. Johnny Gill and I are just friends, and that’s not to say I didn’t want to sleep with Johnny Gill, but we are just friends. He told me he did not want to sleep with me,” she jokingly explained. so I was like, well, whatever. So now we’re friends,” she jokingly explained.
When the interviewer shared with Shepherd what the R&B heartthrob said about her making him laugh, she had a cheeky response.
“Johnny wants me … He just wants to play that I make him laugh. And if that’s where Johnny Gill wanna go with then that’s fine, I’m going to go with it,” she said. “That’s not to say that I didn’t want to sleep with him, but he’s still fine.”
Several reports dating back to 2014 claimed that the two were dating after tweets and Instagram posts of them hanging out were shared. In one instance, Shepherd posted an image of her and Gill smiling.
“Sometimes you need friends who make you laugh… Thank you @realjohnnygill for a crazy night! #friendswithissues #love,” she wrote.
At the time, she was going through a messy divorce with her ex-husband, Lamar Sally. The pair were married for two years before she filed to end the marriage in May 2014. It was finalized the following year.
