Samuel L. Jackson and Latanya Richardson are a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. The couple, who have been married for over 40 years, have overcome obstacles and hardships, always leaning on each other for support. Samuel and Latanya met each other in college. Latanya was attendingĀ Atlanta’sĀ Spelman College, a liberal arts women’s college when she met Samuel, who was studying at Morehouse College, aĀ liberal arts men’s college. Jackson had originally planned on majoring in marine biology, however, after taking an elective acting class, Jackson switched his major to acting. Thank goodness.
Videos by Rare
In the late 1960s, Jackson was active in the Civil Rights movement and even attended Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral as an usher. In 1969, Jackson and fellow Morehouse students held members of the school’s board of trustee’s hostage, demanding reform to the school’s curriculum and policy. While the school did change the policy, Jackson was charged withĀ unlawful confinement, which is considered a second-degree felony. He was suspended from school and he moved to Los Angeles to work as a social worker before returning two years later and earning his degree. He became active in the black power movement and the FBI shared with his mother that Jackson would probably be dead within a year if he kept it up. Jackson was sent back to Los Angeles on his mother’s wishes.
Samuel L. Jackson and Latanya Richardson
Jackson, who has numerous award nominations and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, credits his wife for getting him to where he is today. During his speech at the BET Awards (when picking up his Lifetime Achievement Award), Jackson thanks his wife Latanya for pushing him to go to rehab when she found him passed out one day after a ācrack-inducedā meltdown. LaTanya and 8-year-old daughter Zoe had found him on the kitchen floor surrounded by drugs and paraphernalia.
Latanya convinced her husband that getting clean would not only benefit his health but push his acting talent.Ā āIāve always had my wife LaTanya, whoās my harshest critic,ā he recalled in an interview with The Guardian. āSheād say: āYouāre so intelligent that the first time you read something, you think you understand it intellectually and emotionally ā¦Ā But thereās no blood in it.ā
Jackson Goes Sober
Once he sobered up in 1991, Jackson was able to see what his wife Latanya Richardson was talking about. His first movie in which he was sober was none other than Jungle Fever, where he played a crack-addicted brother of Flipper (Wesley Snipes).
In 1994 Jackson landed his starring role as hitman Jules in Pulp Fiction. At the same time, Latanya was staring in movies such as Fried Green Tomatoes, Sleepless in Seattle, and Malcolm X.
During a recent interview with Essence magazine, Latanya shared the couple’s secret to a lasting marriage.
āYou have to have a big heart and the Lord. You canāt do this without the Lord. Youāre going to have to turn to somebody, something ā because men, they are different,ā Richardson Jackson shared. āTheyāre cut from a different cloth.ā
The family was featured on the cover of Essence magazine back in 1999.Ā āIām telling you, we were revolutionaries,ā she said of herself and her husband. āWe used to say the most revolutionary thing was to keep a Black family together. So that became our mantra.ā
A Supportive Husband!
Today the couple is still working hard in both their fields of work. Samuel L. Jackson has captured audiences with his role as Nick Fury in the Marvel Universe. Latanya Richardson Jackson has been busy as well, most recently playing the role of Calpurnia in To Kill A Mockingbird a few years ago on Broadway in New York City.
Cheers to the happy couple.