Who Is Misty Copeland’s Husband? All About Olu Evans

Misty Copeland may be busy breaking barriers as one of the most famous ballerinas in history, but she still finds time for her family.

Copeland and her husband Olu Evans have been married since 2016 and met over 10 years ago. All along, they kept most of their relationship out of the public eye. “I’ve really kept my personal life pretty private throughout my career,” Copeland told PEOPLE in 2022. She keeps her family off her public social media pages and rarely talks about them in interviews.

Although Evans also seems to be quite private, with no public social media accounts, there are still some things to know about him. He is a successful lawyer and one of Copeland’s biggest supporters, and the two are clearly committed to each other.

Here’s a rundown of everything there is to know about Misty Copeland’s husband, Ola Evans.

He was Copeland’s first boyfriend

Olu Evans and Misty Copeland pose at the opening night of “Hedwig and The Angry Inch” on Broadway on July 22, 2015.

Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic

Copeland and Evans met at a club in Chelsea, New York in 2004. In 2014, the ballerina told Ella that he saw her on the dance floor and approached her. When they started dating, it was Copeland’s first romantic relationship.

“He was my first boyfriend,” she said. “He taught me to communicate in ways I had never learned before, to not run away from problems, to sit down and think critically about things. And he made me feel like I really had a bright future as a ballerina.”

He is a lawyer

Misty Copeland and Olu Evans at the Lincoln Center Spring Gala Honoring Sheryl J. Kaye on May 2, 2023 in New York City.

Dave Kotinsky/Getty

Evans, who is a registered attorney in New York, graduated from Emory University School of Law and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2007.

He has a famous relative

Misty Copeland, Olu Evans and Taye Diggs.

Taye Diggs Instagram

Copeland is certainly not the first famous person Evans has spent time with. His cousin is actor Taye Diggs, who met the couple when they first met in New York.

In October 2014, Diggs posted a photo of them together on Instagram in suits, smiling with their arms around their shoulders and the simple caption, “I do.” In another photo, which appears to have been taken the same day, he captioned it, “Black excellence.”

In 2015, Diggs posted a photo of himself with Copeland and Evans with no caption. According to Sixth page, the three of them were celebrating the couple’s engagement.

They got married in 2016

Olu Evan and Misty Copeland at Dinner with Misty Copeland on June 24, 2015 at Smyth in New York City.

Joe Schildhorn/BFA/Shutterstock

Copeland and Evans took their relationship slowly, getting engaged 10 years after meeting and marrying a year after that. They were married on July 31, 2016 in Laguna Beach, California.

While Copeland hasn’t shared much about their wedding, she told PEOPLE a few months before the big day that she wanted to be a more modest bride and that she’s so busy that she has a lot of other people taking care of the little details.

“I think I’m a pretty simple girl, so I like that there’s no drama,” she said at the time. “I just want to enjoy the day, not make it all about the preparations.”

She also talked about her wedding dress in an August 2015 interview with vanity fair, saying: “I would like to show off my figure, a bit – romantically and elegantly.” I don’t think I want to become super puffy or anything like that.” She added: “I want to feel like me – but more beautiful than every day.”

He’s a dad

Olu Evans and Misty Copeland celebrate the November 2017 cover of ELLE magazine on November 7, 2017 in New York City.

Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Evans became a dad when Copeland gave birth to their first child together around April 2022. In a July 2022 interview with PEOPLE, Copeland revealed that she is on maternity leave with her three-month-old baby, a boy named Jackson.

She also touched on what it was like for her and Evans as new parents. “It’s never easy, but I couldn’t have done it without my support system,” she said. “My husband is amazing and an amazing dad. He’s been there for me throughout my career to help me balance those things.”

She went on to say that even with the support, she still “sacrifices”.

“I’m not at big events every night, I’m partying and going to dinners,” she said. “I have to make sacrifices to be able to do everything I want.”

Copeland hasn’t revealed much about their child, saying she wants to keep the baby’s life private.

They live in New York

Olu Evans and Misty Copeland at the American Ballet Theater Spring Gala on May 16, 2016 in New York City.

Kelly Taub/BFA/Shutterstock

Copeland and Evans met in New York in 2004 and have been there ever since. The two have an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, something they shared Architectural Digest in September 2020.

When they hired an interior decorator to design their apartment, Evans said AD they wanted a “coloring person” they could relate to. “I’m always attracted to strong women,” he added.

In 2014, a profile of how Copeland spends a typical day appeared The New York Times, which shows that the couple prefers to keep things modest and simple. In the profile, Copeland talked about how they like to grab lunch and go shopping together.

“We both like clothes so we’ll go shopping,” she said. “We both love going to Bed Bath & Beyond, we love going there, even if there’s nothing we need, we just love going to that place! I like the kitchen part, he likes the bedroom stuff.”

She also described herself as a “homemaker,” saying the couple likes to watch movies and TV shows together, noting that Evans made her watch Bright Friday night.

He is a great support

Misty Copeland and Olu Evans at the 2015 Time 100 Gala on April 21, 2015 in New York City.

Taylor Hill/Getty

Copeland doesn’t talk much about her relationship, but whenever she does, she has only good things to say about Evans. In a July 2015 interview with Soledad O’Brien at Google’s POWHERFUL event, she said she knew Evans was right for her because he “wasn’t afraid to hear or see me so damaged—and he wanted to help because he cared about me as a person.”

“I always said, ‘No man is going to come and take me away from ballet,'” she continued. “And it was so important to me that the person I ended up with would support me in every way, because my career is very important.”

In an interview with S. 2021 The Telegraph, Copeland said Evans helped her feel more confident and take better care of herself after some personal struggles with her weight. “He made me feel like [my body] is my instrument and I have to take care of it,” she said.

Later in the interview, she talked about how she once wanted a big family, but decided to stay small. “Maybe two,” she answered when asked how many children she wanted. “I’m trying to think of a time when it will be with my boyfriend. I am very orderly and organized – [he] understand that.”

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Source: HIS Education