Niecy Nash took to social media on Thursday to commemorate her Essence cover with wife Jessica Betts, as they became the first same-sex couple to appear on the magazine’s cover.
Nash, 52, and Betts, 42, are on the cover of the magazine’s March/April 2022 issue embracing one another in a passionate pose.
‘Making H E R S T O R Y,’ Nash wrote in an Instagram post. ‘Thank you @essence for choosing The Betts as your FIRST same sex couple to cover [your] magazine!’
The latest: Niecy Nash, 52, took to Instagram on Thursday with multiple posts commemorating her Essence cover with wife Jessica Betts, 42, as they became the first same-sex couple to appear on the magazine’s cover
Betts, a singer, wrote on her Instagram page, ‘H E R S T O R Y Thank you @essence for allowing Love to win! First #SameSex couple to Ever grace the Cover.’
The couple said in a joint statement on the social media site that their prayer was that they made a contribution ‘to normalizing loving who you love out loud!
‘We hope you find your voice and stand in your truth…. knowing that you were designed by the creator – who makes no mistakes!’ the couple said. ‘Your beauty and your superpower is that you are uniquely YOU! Thank you @essence for your fearlessness with having us on your HERSTORY making cover! believe we are just getting started baby!’
In the publication, Nash, who played Deputy Raineesha Williams on Reno 911!, said, ‘The least of my attraction is gender.
The couple was pictured at the CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute in December
The couple said in a joint statement on the social media site that their prayer was that they made a contribution ‘to normalizing loving who you love out loud!’
‘What I was and am still attracted to is Jessica’s soul. She was the most beautiful soul I had ever met in my life. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine going through life without it.’
Nash was in her former marriage to ex-husband Jay Tucker when she initially crossed paths with Betts on social media in 2015. They began their romance following Nash’s split with Hunter in 2019 and exchanged vows in August of 2020.
The Never Have I Ever personality opened up about her thought process ahead of the romance.
‘Not only was it challenging for me to realize I’m having feelings for a woman that I’ve normally had for a man, but it was compounded by the fact that this is my friend,’ Nash told the publication. ‘I thought, “What I do not want to do is anything that would allow this person to not be in my life for the rest of my life.”‘
Nash and Betts opened up to the outlet about the surprised reaction they received after announcing they were married.
‘A lot of people thought it was like a movie or some promo,’ Nash said. ‘They started calling everybody, and we were like, “This is insane.” I never knew why where you lay your head is such a big deal to other people. I was like, “People care?”‘
Betts said that Nash ‘was really shocked’ by the feedback to their nuptials: ‘I knew there was going to be some banter around it. But I didn’t know that it was literally going to break the Internet!’
Nash was in her former marriage to ex-husband Jay Tucker when she initially crossed paths with Betts on social media in 2015. They began their romance following Nash’s split with Hunter and exchanged vows in August of 2020
Nash and Betts were seen enjoying a passionate embrace in LA in November
Nash said a key of her relationship with Betts is that they’re ‘extremely compatible’ with one another.
‘Sometimes you can be attracted to somebody but don’t have a lot in common,’ the Claws actress said. ‘But we have such natural compatibility that we can be around each other, work together and hang out all day. If there was a 25th hour, we would be right up in it.’
Betts said that she feels ‘like all of [her] is accepted’ by Nash.
‘I absolutely feel fully seen,’ Betts told the magazine. ‘All of me is loved – and not just the part that I present, but the part that I don’t necessarily show to everyone else.’
Nash opened up in detail about the dynamics of her relationship with Betts.
‘I feel like the love that I receive from her is custom, as opposed to off the rack,’ she said. ‘I feel like the assignment happened in the spirit realm before we ever knew about it. It’s to be accepted for the truth of who you are, all the way around, good, bad or indifferent.
‘It’s where someone sees your past, your pain, your bullet holes, your stab wounds, whatever you got in a bag over your shoulder when you show up, and they say, “I see it all, and I still love and receive you.”’
The new issue of Essence arrives on newsstands March 1.
ncG1vNJzZmhqZGy7psPSmqmorZ6Zwamx1qippZxemLyue9OvqqGnp5e2u3vNopycsV2jrrS0jJqlnWWamsC0tcKaZJudpKnAbq3RnmSfoaKowW6%2FwKacZquVrXqku9Spo55lpKR6orzPnpirZZ%2BjerW0xGaaqK6Vp3qwsoyeqqydnpiybrnAoJizoZ6afA%3D%3D