Actor Samuel L. Jackson revealed he doesn’t remember the details of his engagement to his wife of 42 years because he “was on drugs.”
As a guest on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Jackson and host Jennifer Hudson discussed he and his wife, LaTanya Richardson, were together for 50 years but were married for 42. When asked how they got engaged, Jackson admitted that the details were hazy because he was doing drugs at the time, something else he had been candid about previously.
Jackson added they had two stories about their engagement, but he liked his version better.
“Well, see, my story was I came home one day, and she already had these invitations printed up, and she gave me a stack and said, ‘Be here,'” he barely recalled, earning applause from the audience. “She said, ‘No, that’s not what happened.’ I actually had to go talk to her grandfather because he told her he wanted to walk her down the aisle before he died and her living in sin with this man.”
He continued, “So, I went and asked him for her hand or whatever. And that’s probably what happened because I was on drugs, and I don’t know what the hell was going on in my life. So, she’s probably right. But I like my version better because it sounds so much fun.”
The Shaft actor added that Richardson had 23 bridesmaids. Since he didn’t have many friends and their wedding fell on a Monday, Jackson asked his friends to be a part of the wedding and asked them to see if theirs would be free for their nuptials, as well.
He called his big wedding a “production” and said there were dancers, singers and performers.
He shared that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a review of his wedding in their theater section. “Best show in town that night. We killed it.”
In an interview with People, Jackson opened up about his drug problems and how Richardson never gave up on him despite his struggles.
“She didn’t have to try to fix me,” he said. “She could’ve just said, ‘Get out,’ and left me into the world, let me go and be whatever I was going to be.”
Richardson said God told her to stay and help her husband get the help he needed.
Jackson also clarified that he and his wife didn’t get into a “spat” at a Theatre Communications Group Gala, which many reported in January 2023. He wasn’t even dressed for the event when he arrived to snap a photo with her.
