The 37-year-old singer has been secretly engaged to her pastor Chad Johnson for nearly a month.
Congratulations Michelle Williams!
The 37-year-old Destiny Child's singer has been secretly engaged to pastor Chad Johnson for nearly a month, she reveals in a new interview with People. The two have been dating for a year.
Williams and Johnson recall their romance to the magazine, which began when the 37-year-old singer attended a spiritual retreat last March that was run by Johnson. The bride to be admits she was in a "horrible, dark place" after a previous relationship with an ex who cheated on her, but she hit it off right away with her future fiance.
Though Johnson, 40, admits his first attempt at flirting didn't go so smoothly.
“I tried to roll in with some mac daddy game -- and I tried to flirt a little bit and said something like, ‘How about you and I connect sometime?’" he tells People. "And right away, she texted right back with one word and six question marks behind it: ‘Connect??????' I thought she had dissed me. So I was embarrassed, and I didn’t reach back out to her because I thought I’d ruined the friendship.”
Clearly, he didn't. Williams confesses to later sliding into his DMs, and from there, the pair's relationship quickly progressed. Williams says she was very protective of their relationship, and didn't introduce her beau to her Destiny's Child bandmates, Beyonce and Kelly Rowland, until July. But Johnson appears to have Beyonce's approval. Last September, the couple was snapped all smiles with Queen Bey in Philadelphia.
“What kept drawing me and drawing me at first was I felt like I could be myself,” Williams says of her fiance. “My first name is Tenitra; my middle name is Michelle. I felt like I could be Tenitra: just ratchet, I didn’t have to have on any makeup, if I had to have on my hair bonnet -- he just made me feel very safe in being myself.”
Now, after a romantic proposal in Pebble Beach, California, where the two first met, Williams says she can't wait to get married.
“We do wanna get married very, very soon,” she says. “We’ve been moving very quickly and planning. Why wait? I want to get married now, but he wants a wedding!”
Williams also appeared on The LadyGang podcast earlier this month and revealed that she would definitely have Beyonce and Rowland as bridesmaids on her big day.
"I'm trying to figure out do I want the whole bridesmaids, groomsmen thing," she said. "I think I just want everyone to come and have it be intimate and party ... should I make my bridesmaids list? Of course they're [Beyonce and Kelly] going to be on there!"
Williams definitely appears smitten with her man. On Wednesday, she Instagrammed sweet photos of herself running into Johnson's arms after reuniting with Destiny's Child during Beyonce's headlining Coachella performance.
"That amazing feeling of getting off the stage, running back to the dressing room and I see someone standing there waiting for me!" she wrote. "I always wondered how our worlds would mesh. I always wanted to protect who you are, your ministry and platform because people are nuts and cruel, but you have covered me, prayed for me and told me that wherever I go, and whatever stage I stand on to be a light! Soooooooo sorry I jumped on you but I’m glad to know you have muscles to hold me! You so stronnnnnnnng! I’ve waited yeeeeeeears for someone who could come in to my world and be CONFIDENT and NOT insecure, love who I love and genuinely be there for people!! I LOVE YOU @chadjohnson77!!! ❤️ #HoldOn #LoveIsComing #IPrayRealTrueGodlyLoveForEveryone #ThankYouJesus."
Watch the video below for more on Destiny's Child's epic Coachella reunion over the weekend.
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