black relationships
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'Marriage Is Not Checkers, It's Chess': Summit Explores Making Black Love Last
Barack and Michelle Obama aren’t the only black married couple in this country, and the Black Love Summit, held in Atlanta on Saturday, proved that. A spill-over from the successful docuseries Black Love—which returns to OWN on Aug. 10 and was created by real-life married couple Tommy and Codie Elaine Oliver—the summit attracted a few…
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'R&B': This Is Us Unravels the 'Same Fight' Randall and Beth Have Been Having Since They Met
This is it—the moment we reveal what’s behind the wizard’s “relationship goals” curtain. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.) The dichotomy between This Is Us faves Beth Pearson (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown) has always been apparent, but somehow it worked. Beth was the (overly) practical peanut butter to Randall’s (overly) optimistic jelly. The…
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OWN’s Love Is ____ Aims to Redefine #RelationshipGoals
Many of us want love to be wrapped up in an attractive package with all the bells, whistles, hugs and kisses. I know I do. Father God, please let my mate be smart, kind, generous, a dreamer but a doer, mentally stable, financially free, an advocate and a consumer of therapy, and also, can he…
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Building Without Tools: 4:44 and the Power of Vulnerability, Part 2
What I thought when I met my dad was, “Oh, I’m free to love now.” But it’s like, how are you gonna do it? … You’ve never done this before; no one informed you how to do this. You don’t even have the tools to do it … “Will 4:44 be for black men the…
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A Relationship Without Kindness Is Doomed From the Start
Recently I came across a Facebook post in which someone told a bride-to-be, “I am happy you are marrying a kind man.” That one phrase in the sea of the other congratulatory messages resonated with me because I lived with a man for six years who was emotionally distant and unkind. And the warning signs…
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Don’t Hurt Yourself: Unicorns Aren’t Real and You’re Not a Special Snowflake
Many moons ago, fresh off an unexpected achievement and gaining a toehold in both the music industry and the fun, freewheeling network that was once Twitter, I decided to celebrate my unlikely success with the social media tagline, “Just your average Grammy-nominated goddess next door … may I borrow some sugar?” Playful? Yes. Obnoxious? Perhaps;…