Denzel Washington is inarguably one of the greatest actors of all time. Don’t believe me? In 2020, The New York Times named him one of the best actors of his generation and the greatest actor of the 21st century. He certainly has the resumé to merit the accolades, with two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globes, the Cecil B. DeMille Award and two Emmys to his name. Though his career has spanned over four decades, he still keeps busy, slated to appear in Gladiator II later this year alongside the likes of Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal. As with any celebrity, there is one thing I need to know, awards and accomplishments aside. And that would be their love life. So, who is Denzel Washington’s wife? Here’s everything you need to know about Pauletta Washington.
Who Is Denzel Washington’s Wife? Meet Pauletta Washington
performer, wife and mom extraordinaire
1. Who Is Denzel Washington’s Wife?
Denzel Washington’s wife is actress and musician Pauletta Washington, née Pearson. She was born on September 28, 1950 in Newton, North Carolina. The pair share four children, John David, Katia and twins Olivia and Malcolm.
2. What Was Pauletta Doing Before They Got Married?
Before her marriage to Washington, Pauletta was an accomplished artist in her own right. She is a singer and classically trained musician. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the virtuoso was competing in piano competitions by the time she was 10 years old. Pauletta would go on to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Juilliard and North Texas University.
Following her education, Pauletta worked at Six Flags Over Texas in the musical theater department, but with some encouragement from her manager, quit and moved to New York, where she worked on Broadway before breaking into the film industry in 1977. Per the Goodman Theater, where she performed in Crowns for the 2011-2012 season, Pauletta has appeared in Broadway productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Shakespeare’s Cabaret. Off-Broadway, she was cast in Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore, among other projects. On television, she is best known as Mo’Nique on The Parkers, and for roles in Beloved alongside Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. She most recently portrayed Aretha Franklin’s grandmother, Rachel, in the National Geographic special, Genius: Aretha Franklin.
3. How Did They Meet?
It depends on who you ask, but the basic facts are the same. The pair first came into contact in 1977 on the set of Wilma, where Denzel was playing Wilma’s boyfriend, while Pauletta was cast as track star Mae Faggs.
“I met her then but I didn’t meet her then. I saw her then,” Denzel recalls on Live: Kelly and Mark (previously Live: Kelly and Ryan). “About a year later, there was a party…and she was there. At that party, I had talked about going to see a play. I went to see the play and at intermission, the lights came up and she was sitting [right next to me]. She said she ‘just happened to go’ see the play. I’m getting in trouble as I speak.”
But if you ask Pauletta, there were no machinations on her side.
“A mutual friend of ours, who was also in [Wilma], had given a party,” she recounts in a 1996 interview with Oprah. “Denzel and his friends came at the very end of the party. We spoke again, we were reintroduced. The next night, I attended a play. I got there late, so I snuck in and just sat down. I didn’t look at who was around me. At intermission, the lights came up and we were sitting next to each other.”
When asked by Oprah how she fell in love, Paulette’s answer couldn’t have been sweeter.
“I thought he was cute, but I fell in love with his spirit. That I saw first. And then I thought, hmmm, not a bad package, you know?”
Denzel must have made an excellent impression, given that Pauletta had to pay for the cab fare on the duo’s first date.
“I was going to splurge,” Denzel later told Jimmy Kimmel. “We were going to take a cab. The meter’s going and I’m going, uh, oh. How far away does she live? She paid.”
4. When Did Denzel and Pauletta Get Married?
Six years after meeting, Denzel and Pauletta married on June 25, 1983. While many look forward to a bite of wedding cake at the end of the night, it was a very different story for the Washingtons. In the same Kimmel interview, he explained: “We were shaking so many hands, taking pictures, they ran out of food. We went to the diner [and] had eggs or something.”
Though missing out on the food may have been a disappointment, it was a minor inconvenience, considering that Denzel had to propose multiple times for Pauletta to say yes.
“Twice! It was three times?” he asked her in an Access Hollywood interview. “Why was it twice…Why would I have to ask again?”
“Because I said no,” Pauletta said. “I turned you down twice and the third time we did it.”
5. Do They Have Children?
The couple shares four children: John David (1984), Katia (1986) and twins Malcolm and Olivia (1991), all of whom have followed in their parents’ footsteps.
The oldest, John David, graduated from Morehouse College and was drafted as a free agent to the St. Louis Rams in 2006. He later pivoted to acting and is best known for his role as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s BlackkKlansmen (2018), for which he received nominations for the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild. He also starred in Malcom & Marie (2021) opposite Zendaya, and on Broadway in August Wilson’s revival of The Piano Lesson, which ran from September 2022 to January 2023.
His brother, Malcolm, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in film studies and will be directing a film adaptation in his directorial debut. Their sister, Katia, graduated from Yale University and now works as a producer, having worked on Malcom & Marie, among other projects. She will also executive produce The Piano Lesson, making it a real family affair.
Olivia, Malcolm’s twin, graduated from Tisch School of the Arts and is an actress best known as Flora in 2023’s I’m a Virgo, which earned her a nomination for the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards. She has also appeared in projects including The Tragedy of MacBeth (2021), The Butler (2013) and Breaking (2022).
6. Does Pauletta Do Any Charitable Work?
As if being a talented performer and raising an accomplished family weren’t enough, Pauletta also does extensive philanthropic work. Currently, she serves on the board of trustees for Spelman College and is a founder and executive member of The Brain Trust of Cedars-Sinai. Through the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery, she and her husband run the Pauletta and Denzel Washington Gifted Scholars Program, which provides summer living stipends to graduate and undergraduate students so they can work with doctors, neurosurgeons and scientists, preparing an abstract or paper for submission to a national neuroscience, cancer or neurosurgery organization.
Is there anything this extraordinary lady can’t do?