Beverly Johnson got exactly what she asked for on her birthday: to get married.
The supermodel, 71, who made history as the first black woman on the cover of American Vogue in 1974, revealed in an interview with Sirius XM Sway in the Morning this week she and her longtime partner, Brian Maillian, officially tied the knot.
“Two days before my birthday, October 13, [Brian] he kept saying ‘What do you want for your birthday,'” Johnson recalled on the podcast. “I sat up in bed on October 11th and said, ‘I know what I want for my birthday.’ ”
“He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘I want to get married,'” she continued. “He said, ‘Okay.’ And I said, “Did he say okay? Oh s—.” ”
Two days later, the couple said “I do” in Las Vegas.
Johnson, who performed on stage in New York in Beverly Johnson: In Vogue, also said that Maillian wanted to have a big wedding with around 1,500 people, but she wanted something more intimate. “It was the right moment,” she said of their Las Vegas wedding.
Brian Maillian and Beverly Johnson attend the LGBTQ + Seniors photo exhibit in Los Angeles, California.
Ella Hovsepian/Getty
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Entering the ceremony, the supermodel wondered if the couple would go ahead with their impromptu wedding plans – or somehow fail to make it down the aisle. “The whole time I’m thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to fight,'” she recalled.
But to her happy surprise, they got married without any problems.
Johnson added that her best friends helped orchestrate all the details of their wedding, including finding the chapel, “it was really beautiful,” she said of the location.
Now that she’s married, Johnson said her and Maillian’s relationship is on another level. “It’s definitely on a spiritual level,” she shared, adding that “every day and moment becomes so precious, and those moments with the grandchildren, everything becomes awe-inspiring.”
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Brian Maillian and Beverly Johnson at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Awards After Party at the Palm Springs Convention Center on January 5, 2023 in Palm Springs, California.
Emma McIntyre/Getty
Supermodel Beverly Johnson engaged at the age of 67: ‘We’ve been through a lot of the same things’
A week before, on January 6, Johnson made a stylish appearance at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on Thursday, where she stepped out with Mailillian.
Johnson wore a voluminous black dress by ANYA by VIVIEN with pointed black heels. To keep the focus on the voluminous garment, she opted for simple accessories, including fine silver jewelery and silver links.
Maillian, a financier, completed her outfit with a black and white tuxedo, black bow tie and black dress shoes.
Johnson, meanwhile, first revealed that the two got engaged to PEOPLE in July 2020. While speaking with PEOPLE, the supermodel opened up about their relationship and what it was like to find love later in life.
“Just finding the love of my life at this point in my life is amazing,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve ever dated someone so close to my age! We know the same songs and we’ve been through a lot of the same things.”
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Source: HIS Education