How Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance Got Out of the Friend Zone — and Have Stayed Married for 26 Years (Exclusive)

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance met in college, but it took years for their romance to blossom.

“I always thought I’d be married or maybe I’d have a baby by the time I was 29,” Bassett tells PEOPLE in this week’s Women Changing the World cover story. “But by the time I turned 29, there was no partner, and the career took off in a way that I worked hard for and was very happy about.”

After meeting at the Yale School of Drama in the 80s, Bassett, 65, reconnected with Vance, 63, when she was 38 and hit it big after playing Tina Turner in the Oscar-nominated film. What does love have to do with it? star opposite Whitney Houston Waiting for exhalation.

“When I met Courtney, I knew him at drama school, I was very enthusiastic about his talent, his gift on stage, and he as a person, a real sweetheart, I considered him a support,” 9-1-1 the star recalls.

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance at the 2016 Emmys Lester Cohen/WireImage Angela Bassett holds this PEOPLE picture of her twins as babies in her living room: ‘Cute as can be’ (Exclusive)

But this time there was a different spark. “What I really loved about him was how supportive and engaging everyone was,” says Bassett. “It was something that really opened my eyes, and I went from being a friend to falling in love with him in a different way.”

After a few months of dating, the couple got engaged on the night of Vance’s movie premiere The preacher’s wifeand married less than a year later, in 1997. They welcomed their twins Bronwyn and Slater, now 18, in 2006, and in 2009 they wrote a joint memoir, Friends: A Love Story.

“From the beginning, he was always just a very supportive partner, and that’s still the case today. And our communication is still strong, but it always comes back to him always being considerate of me,” says Bassett. “His core burns clean.”

Both acknowledge the work required to keep the union strong. “It’s kindness and support,” says Vance, who won an Emmy in 2016 for his role in The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. “There are no perfect marriages. It’s a job, it’s an understanding, it’s an apology. Our expression is: ‘If you mess up, admit it’. If you mess up, it’s okay. Say it and it will be over.”

John Russo

With their children about to head off to college, Vance calls the twins “a nice combination of both of us.” The couple also admit how far they’ve come since their newlywed days.

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance Relationship Timeline

“I remember early on in your marriage you were like, ‘Ah, I feel kind of unstable,’ and I’m from a single-parent household, what does that look like?” says Bassett, who was raised by her mother, Betty. “Early on, I said, ‘Oh, my God, it’s not working.’ And then he would say, ‘No…’ He just has a very calming influence. [He] puts everything into perspective. Quite simply, we can solve anything and everything.”

Calling Bassett a “lioness” when it comes to her loved ones, Vance refers to an old interview with Charlton Heston and his wife Lydia Clarke. “At that point they had been married 54 years and they asked Mrs. Heston, ‘How is he after 54 years of marriage?’ What’s the secret?’ And she said, ‘It’s coming’.” Vance laughs at the memory. “That’s it. I’m getting there.”

In 2020, Bassett addressed her secret to a long-lasting marriage in an interview with PEOPLE. “I think it’s important that you have to marry the right person,” she said. “Make sure you’re both looking in the same direction, basically.”

Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance 2005 Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan

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And after her second Oscar nomination in 2023 Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverVance was always in her corner, Bassett told PEOPLE.

“He understands empirically everything I’m going through,” she said. “He can really give me perspective, because it gets very heady and very busy, but he just keeps me grounded about the important things, that life is good and that we’re all doing our best to support each other.”

“She’s my better half. I don’t know what I’d do without her,” Vance tells PEOPLE today. – And we cover each other.

Find out more about Angela Bassett’s life lessons in this week’s issue of the magazine PEOPLEavailable at newsstands everywhere.

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Source: HIS Education