Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts are celebrating their love on the cover of ‘Essence.’
via People:
The pair — who have been married for nearly two years — made history this week as they graced the cover of Essence’s March/April 2022 issue, officially becoming the first same-sex couple to do so.
“Making H E R S T O R Y ???” Nash, 52, wrote on Instagram, celebrating the historic cover. “Thank you @essence for choosing The Betts as your FIRST same sex couple to cover you [sic] magazine! #BettsOfWorlds #MakingHistory #Herstory #BlackHistoryMonth”
In a separate post, alongside a photo of the pair posing topless, the Clawsactress added: “Simply The Betts ? L o v e > U N C O V E R E D”
Sharing the cover in her own post, Betts, 42, wrote: “H E R S T O R Y ? Thank you @essence for allowing L??ve to win! First #SameSex couple to Ever grace the Cover ???”
In the new issue, which hits newsstands on March 1, Nash and Betts open up about their love story and share why, despite their uncertain beginnings, they are now happier than ever.
“The least of my attraction is gender,” Nash told the magazine. “What I was and am still attracted to is Jessica’s soul. She was the most beautiful soul I had ever met in my life. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine going through life without it.”
Nash and Betts, a singer-songwriter, first connected on social media in 2015 while Nash was still married to ex-husband Jay Tucker. After her split from Tucker, Nash’s friendship with Betts took a romantic turn.
“Not only was it challenging for me to realize I’m having feelings for a woman that I’ve normally had for a man, but it was compounded by the fact that this is my friend,” Nash recalled to Essence. “I thought, ‘What I do not want to do is anything that would allow this person to not be in my life for the rest of my life.'”
On Aug. 31, 2020, the couple made a surprise announcement on their respective Instagram accounts and revealed that they had said “I do.”
Reflecting back on that moment, the couple told Essence that they had planned to post the photo and then jet off to Mexico, where they would turn off their phones and enjoy time together without the stress of the world’s reaction.
However, a travel mishap caused the pair to change plans and head to Santa Barbara instead. During their drive, Nash and Betts said they held hands and prayed before uploading the marriage announcement.
“A lot of people thought it was like a movie or some promo,” Nash told the magazine. “They started calling everybody, and we were like, ‘This is insane.’ I never knew why where you lay your head is such a big deal to other people. I was like, ‘People care?'”
We love seeing Niecy so in love!
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