Most couples who’ve been married for more than four decades have their proposal story down to a science. But for Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson, the details of how they got engaged remain hazy. The couple’s charming confusion about their own romantic milestone recently resurfaced in the form of a clip of their 2021 appearance on “The Graham Norton Show,” where their playful banter left audiences in stitches.
The confusion began when host Graham Norton made what seemed like a simple observation about their 40-year marriage, suggesting that Jackson had never actually proposed to his wife.
What followed was a comedic back-and-forth that perfectly captured their long-lasting relationship’s essence.
“You’ve been married for 40 years, but oddly, I think I’m right in saying you never proposed?” Norton asked, setting the stage for what would become a viral moment.
Jackson’s response was classic: “Did I?”
When Richardson pressed him further, asking ” I wanna hear this story. You never proposed?” the actor remained characteristically uncertain, “I don’t remember. Well? I do remember you having some invitations in your hand and saying, ‘This is when this is happening.'”
Richardson quickly corrected the record with her own version of events, explaining the urgent circumstances that led to their wedding.
“No, that’s not what happened. I said, ‘My grandfather is very ill, and he’s going to die. He’s very concerned that we are not married, so we have to get married now so that he can walk me down the aisle.’ That was his concern, that I was the last of his grandchildren not to be walked down the aisle in marriage. And so, we have to get married. So now, you have to ask him if you may marry me, and then you have to ask me, ‘Will I marry you?’ And you did,” she said.
Jackson’s response remained perfectly on-brand: “I did?”
When the conversation turned to the actual wedding ceremony, Jackson — perhaps referring to how he proposed — insisted he had been romantic, claiming, “I got down on one knee and did the whole thing.”
Richardson’s diplomatic conclusion summed up their approach to marriage perfectly: “OK, OK, you know what? It doesn’t matter.”
The resurfaced clip, posted on the This_Mum_Reads Instagram account, struck a chord with viewers, generating heartwarming responses that celebrated the couple’s enduring bond.
One person wrote, “That’s what 40 years look like. Coming from someone married 40 years!!!!”
Another comment captured their relationship dynamic, “This is why they have been married so long…..it doesn’t matter.”
The playful nature of their interaction wasn’t lost on observers, with one noting, “He’s right. He got shotgunned into marriage,” while another observed, “He maybe the coolest dude on the planet, but he will get still her told off by his wife.”
The most telling response simply stated, “Omg they are perfect for each other.”
They told this story again on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.”
He said he remembered his now-wife saying, “Be there.”
She backed him down again, leaving him to say, “That’s probably what happened, because I was on drugs, and I probably didn’t know what the hell was going on at the time. So, she’s probably right!”
Their epic love story began in 1968 on the campuses of Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta, where Richardson was studying performance arts and Jackson was pursuing his degree.
Interestingly, Richardson wasn’t initially Jackson’s type. As he later recalled, she was an “Atlanta city girl” with a different air about her that was somewhat off-putting to him.
Their paths crossed during a pivotal moment in civil rights history when Bill Cosby and Robert Culp enlisted students to protest Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis.
Richardson first spotted Jackson on the flight from Atlanta to Memphis, and despite their different social circles, Jackson found himself intrigued by this revolutionary city girl who participated in campus activism.
Their relationship wasn’t without challenges.
During Jackson’s early career, he struggled with drug abuse, reaching a breaking point in 1990 when Richardson found him passed out on their kitchen floor. She issued an ultimatum, threatening to leave if he didn’t complete rehabilitation.
“I knew I couldn’t leave this boy I admired so much. But I resented him too. I hated it when he slurred his words. A wife hates to see her husband be weak,” she reflected years later to The New York Times in 2012.
Today, with Jackson having appeared in nearly 155 film and television productions and Richardson earning a 2014 Tony nomination for “A Raisin in the Sun,” they recently worked together as producing partners on Apple TV’s “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey.”
The couple share a 43-year-old daughter, Zoe.
Their commitment stems from one decision: “We made a decision to say, ‘We are going to stay together no matter what. We’ll figure it out.'”
Whether Jackson actually proposed or not, their love continues.
