Niecy Nash and her wife, Jessica Betts have become the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of Essence, subsequently knocking down old boundaries and making history.
Check out Niecy Nash's interview on The Limits with Jay Williams
Nash took to Instagram on Thursday, (Feb 24) to share her cover image for the magazine’s March/April 2022 “Black Women in Hollywood” issue. The cover boasts a stunning image of the Claws star and Betts embracing without tops on.
“Making H E R S T O R Y,” Nash wrote alongside the cover image. She continued, “Thank you @essence for choosing The Betts as your FIRST same sex couple to cover (your) magazine!”
Many of Nash’s friends and Hollywood peers applauded the couple in the comments section, including Taraji P. Henson and Ava DuVernay. Henson wrote, “OOOOOHHHHH FRIEND THIS IS BREATHTAKING!!!!!!” While La La Anthony chimed in with, “Gorgeous.” DuVernay exclaimed, “Exceptional. Exquisite. Everything!” Mindy Kaling concluded with a simple, awestruck, “WOW.”
In August 2020, the Selma actress announced her surprise marriage to Betts on Instagram. Nash told Essence that she was struck by the public’s first reaction to her marriage and caught off guard.
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She explained, “a lot of people thought it was like a movie or some promo.” “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?’”
Nash added that her marriage to Betts was never a “coming out” but rather a “going into myself.”
In a follow-up post, Nash shared clips from the couple’s virtual cover shoot. She captioned the video with a quote from the interview. “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."
Betts told Essence that the reason she and her wife engage in social media PDA is to provide representation rather than spur social commentary. “Agendas feel very forced,” noted Betts. “If there’s an agenda, it’s that we’re going to spread queer joy. The world needs it. Real talk.”
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