24 Photos Of Niecy And Jessica Betts Packing On The PDA

As simple as it sounds, having the freedom to love who you want isn’t something many people experience in their lifetimes, but Niecy Nash is reveling in it. The actress, 53, shocked everyone when she revealed she was married to her now wife Jessica Betts in 2020. They also rocked the world further when they became the first same-sex couple to cover ESSENCE magazine in 2022. 

Before then, the couple kept their relationship and engagement under wraps. The happily married duo started out as friends, but their feelings for one another eventually evolved beyond the confines of a friendship. 

“I never saw her as someone I would date,” Nash told PEOPLE in 2020. “But we began to see each other in a way we never had before.”

There was apprehension at first, understandably so when you’re transitioning from a mutual friendship to something more, particularly with someone of the same gender. During a visit to Jada Pinkett’s Red Table Talk in 2021, Nash shared that she “was fearful that our friendship might not survive it.”  She continued, “I just know that this is the most beautiful soul I’ve ever met in my life, and you mine.”

The couple have done more than survive the transition from friends to lovers to marital partners because they’re now celebrating three years of marriage. 

While this is Nash’s first time being with a woman, she has made it clear that this relationship wasn’t her “coming out.” The Claws star was married twice before to Jay Tucker who she divorced in 2019, and Rev. Don Nash from 1994 to 2007. 

“I don’t feel like my marriage is my coming out of anywhere, but rather a going into myself and being honest about who I love,” she said following their nuptials. “[My marriage] has absolutely nothing to do with gender and it has everything to do with her soul.”

The Emmy-nominated actress doesn’t hesitate to express what she loves about her partner during interviews. Reasons she has cited for being smitten include Betts being a “special human being” and the “greatest love of her life.” She also gives her the space to be who she is completely. 

“The best thing about it is that I can be 100% who I am. I don’t have to play small, I don’t have to dumb it down. I can be bright, shiny. I can take up space and it’s well received,” she said during her time on YouTube series Bumble Presents Luv2SeeIt with Teyana Taylor.

Betts isn’t a woman of many words when it comes to interviews about their relationship but the feeling is certainly mutual. She does post about her actor wifey frequently on social media. Betts was also the first one to pop the question (Nash did shortly after). During her unconventional proposal, the musician said Nash was “absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

She also wished her wife a happy anniversary in a few short but powerful words in her latest post. 

“Happy Anniversary Baby ‼️❤️👽🥰🎉 3 Down, 4 Ever To Go. 8-29-2020 #3Years #BettsOfBothWorlds”

Here are some special moments the two have shared with the public with over the past three years in the form of their one-of-a-kind PDA.