Celebrities love to share strange stories on talk shows, but they seem to especially like to divulge odd moments of their lives to British talk show host Graham Norton. While celebrity interviewers such as Howard Stern get the juiciest and edgiest piece of personal information from stars, Graham has a nose for the absurd.
On top of this, Samuel L. Jackson has no issue opening up about his colorful and dynamic past. While on The Graham Norton show years ago, Sam Jackson went into detail about how he was a cheerleader in college. It was mostly to get girls, but the image of the guy from Pulp Fiction doing the splits is still pretty funny.
The story that Samuel L. Jackson told alongside his wife of nearly 40-years, LaTanya Richardson, rivals this cheerleader anecdote. Although, we're not entirely sure that Sam even wanted to tell it. But Graham got it out of him and now the whole world knows that Sam totally forgot to propose when he married his wife.
Let's take a dive into this, shall we?
How Sam And LaTanya Met And Fell In Love
Fans of Samuel L. Jackson tend to be interested in his love life. And while this MCU and Quentin Tarantino bestie and star could be playing the scene and meeting all sorts of beautiful women, he has proven that he's all about monogamy.
Funnily enough, Sam's story about becoming a cheerleader to meet women is actually how he met his wife, LaTanya... sort of. You see, Sam went to an all-boys school, and in order to spend time with girls, he had to join the cheerleading squad which included women from a nearby all-girls school called Spellman.
In a roundabout way, this is how he met his future wife, LaTanya. Although both Sam and LaTanya had a deep interest in their school's shared theater program. From there, the two started dating and both pursued a career in acting. They got married when they moved to New York and had their daughter Zoe four years later.
So, What's The Proposal Story?
In October 2020, both Sam and LaTonya went on The Graham Norton Show via Zoom (due to the Pandemic) and were questioned about their relationship history.
"I said earlier that you've been married for 40 years," Graham Norton began. "But oddly, I think I'm right in saying, that you never proposed, Samuel?"
This is when Samuel's eyebrows raised and he seemed genuinely shocked. He turned to Latonya and asked, "Didn't I?"
"I want to hear his story," LaTonya said. "Go! You never proposed?"
"I don't remember... Well..."
By now the audience was killing themselves laughing at the fact that neither Samuel nor LaTonya seemed to recall if there was a proposal before their marriage.
"I don't remember it, actually," Samuel said to LaTonya. "I do remember you having some invitations in your hand and saying 'This is when this is happening.'"
"No! That's not what happened," LaTonya claimed. "I said, "My grandfather is very ill and he's going to die. And he's very concerned that we are not married. So, we have to get married now so that he can walk me down the aisle.' That was his concern. That I was the last of his grandchildren, um, not to be walked down the aisle in marriage."
Latonya went on to say that she told Samuel that he had to ask her grandfather if he could marry her. After her grandfather said 'yes', she told Samuel that he then had to ask her if she would marry him.
"And you did."
"I did?" Samuel asked, genuinely unsure.
"Yes, you did," she said, increasingly annoyed. "You know what, it doesn't matter."
Samuel then started to riff, telling the audience that his proposal was extremely romantic. However, it was clear that he had no memory of a proposal ever actually happening. Nor did it appear as though he thought one did.
This clearly made LaTonya agitated so she just stopped talking altogether. Although it was also clear that she was having a bit of fun with the topic.
"You'll get through this. You'll get through this," The British talk show host laughed.
Samuel then turned to Graham and said, "Thank you so much, Graham. I needed that issue to deal with later on today."
While Samuel L. Jackson and LaTonya Richardson can't seem to agree on their past proposal, it's clear that their relationship is still going strong. After all, to last 40 years as a couple takes an extreme amount of effort, trust, and true love.