Actor Denzel Washington has starred in a variety of film projects over the years – from Malcolm X to Remember the Titans. But there was one character he played that he shared his wife wasn’t particularly happy with.
Denzel Washington proposed to his wife Pauletta Pearson 3 times before she agreed to marry him
Washington and his wife Pauletta Pearson have enjoyed decades’ worth of marriage. The two first met on the 1977 television series Wilma as acquaintances. But the beginning of their relationship started when they ran into each other again a year later as Washington was doing a play.
“I had talked at that party about going to see a play. I went to see the play, and at intermission the lights came up and she was sitting [there]. She said she just happened to go see the play… I’m getting in trouble as I speak,” Washington said in a fairly recent interview on Live! With Kelly and Ryan.
The pair would later find themselves in a relationship. Washington would attempt to propose to Pearson, but Pearson at the time wasn’t ready for the commitment.
“She turned me down, she said no. And since it was three times, that means she turned me down twice,” Washington once told Access in a joint interview with Pearson.
Pearson confirmed the story alongside Washington.
“That’s true. I turned you down twice and the third time we did,” she said.
Denzel Washington once revealed the 1 character he played that disturbed his wife
Washington is known for the diverse roster of characters he’s played. Audiences have seen him portray desperate heroes in movies like John Q, and calculating villains in his iconic film Training Day. But Washington asserted it was his role in the feature Flight that left his wife uncomfortable. Flight was a movie where Washington played an airplane pilot battling drug and alcohol addiction.
Washington had an enjoyable time channeling and prepping the character. Despite the film’s heavy story, Washington explained that it was still far from the hardest movie he’d ever had to do.
“Tough spots for me are pictures I don’t want to be on. People ask ‘What was the hardest part of the movie?’ If you’re on a movie and it’s like the third day and you’re going ‘How many days have we been shooting?’ ‘Three.’ ‘How many more have we got to go?’ ‘117.’ That’s a tough movie for me, but this was an adventure,” Washington once told Collider.
Washington also felt his scenes could be cathartic in a sense. Some of the scenes in the movie left Washington with little energy left to get into arguments with his wife, for instance. But he confided that Pearson didn’t have the same response to his role.
“After a scene where I’m drunk and arguing the whole day, the last thing I want to do is any of those things so it was therapeutic. But my wife was a little disturbed by this one to be honest,” Washington said in a 2007 interview with People (via Irish Examiner).
Denzel Washington felt his wife Pauletta Pearson did the heavy lifting in their relationship
Washington and Pearson have since raised four kids together in their long relationship. One of their children, John David Washington, has gone on to become a successful actor himself. When Washington was asked about the key to a successful marriage and family, he gave credit to his partner Pearson.
“What pops into my head: security, food, a beautiful home. The difference between a house and a home, it’s a big difference.,” Washington once told People. “You can buy a house, but that doesn’t make it a home – and not to say a man can’t make a home a home, but my wife has made our house a home, and raised these beautiful kids and protected them and sacrificed for them, she did the heavy-lifting.”
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