Cynthia Erivo, the British vocal stunner, has been gaining a lot of limelight and fame lately. While her initial stardom and recognition came with the Broadway revival of The Color Purple (from 2015 to 2017), the 37-year-old singer cum actress has since done an epic job both singing and acting.
Not only is Erivo a winner of the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album (for The Color Purple), but she has also received two Oscar nods – one for Best Actress (for Harriet, 2019) and one for Best Original Song for the song Stand Up.
As of late, Erivo’s popularity is boosted by major margins as her gay-friendly LGBTQ+ themed fantasy-musical with Ariana Grande, Wicked, gets all set to hit the big screens soon. This has piqued fans’ interest in her dating life as well, with many even questioning if Erivo is already married.
Thus, here’s everything you need to know about Cynthia Erivo’s incredibly private personal life, from her current and former partners to her sexual orientation and take on the same.
Has Cynthia Erivo Already Tied the Knot?
Truth be told, no. As of now, no official confirmation has been announced by The Outsider actress herself about her marriage. Additionally, she has never walked down the aisle before either, so it might as well be that the 37-year-old actress just doesn’t have marriage in her cards currently.
At the same time, Erivo seems to be in a rumored relationship with Lena Waithe as of this writing. According to what Waithe told Variety in 2022 while gushing on and on in praise for the Bad Times at the El Royale star, the pair first met at the Met Gala back in May 2018.
Additionally, Erivo also heaped praise on Waithe in 2018 through a picture of the two uploaded to her Instagram, captioned: “I finally found my sis. Lena you are absolutely everything. You are perfection. What a meeting of minds, glad to have you in my life! Stuck like glue !!! SHINE QUEEN SHINE!!”
Since then, the pair have attended various red carpet-events, though neither has admitted nor denied being involved in a romantic relationship with the other. Plus, in 2022, the pair were seen holding hands while attending the Alvin Ailey Spirit Gala at Lincoln Center (per Page Six), so it might as well be taken for official confirmation of their relationship.
Cynthia Erivo Identifies Herself as Queer and Bisexual
Around three years ago in August 2021, Erivo came out as queer in an interview with The Standard. This came in the wake of her song The Good, which circled the romantic relationship of two black women. By that time, since there were already rumors floating around about her sexual orientation, the actress confessed she didn’t exactly find it necessary to confirm them.
It’s just… I have never felt like I necessarily needed to come out – just because no one ever really asked. People make assumptions… No one’s ever really assumed that I’m straight! I don’t think anyone thinks of me as a person that has relationships that aren’t platonic! [Laughs] So I’ve never needed to even really discuss anything about my sexuality at all.
The Standard
At the same time, when asked if the rumors about her being in love and in a relationship with Waithe were true, Cynthia Erivo played coy about it all, responding with answers like, “Am I in love? Maybe…” and “I don’t know – rumors can or cannot be true!” Well, that could be all the confirmation Erivo would ever give about the chemistry she shares with Waithe, for all we know.
Cynthia Erivo Faced Difficulty Expressing Her Identity Growing Up
While she never felt the need to announce her sexual orientation publically – with one of the reasons behind it being all the fan speculation and rumors already swirling around about it – the Luther: The Fallen Sun actress also had a hard time identifying and coming to terms with the sexual identity she had given herself while growing up.
I knew something was different but I didn’t know what, like how do I call it…” Erivo said, coming clean about her true feelings. I think sometimes we assume that every queer person knows it from the beginning; most of us do, but we don’t necessarily know the language until someone says hey, this is, these are the words that you might want to use.
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Either way, when she finally found out the language and words she could use to describe herself, Erivo didn’t hesitate to let it be known just how wonderful it all felt to be herself. Since then, she has been as embracing of herself as ever, just the way she is, and living her life on her own terms.
Cynthia Erivo’s Relationship History: All We Know
Over the years, Cynthia Erivo has been as quiet and private about her personal life as ever, hardly ever letting out details about who she was in love with and who she’s hanging out with romantically. Nonetheless, even through all these scanty details, here’s all we know about the two partners she has been romantically linked with to date besides Lena Waithe:
Back in 2013, Erivo was first reported in a romantic relationship with Dean John-Wilson (as per Yen). However, their relationship was mostly kept strictly under wraps, so very little is known about the pair except that they walked the red carpet together three years later in 2016 when he played Prince Ali in the Aladdin West End production at the Prince Edward Theatre in London.
By 2017, however, Erivo and John-Wilson had seemingly broken up as the actress was seen hanging out with Mario Martinez. Apparently, Martinez “chased” the singer, asking her out every time they met even though she was in a relationship with Dean John-Wilson back then. “Then the last time, I was not with my ex anymore—except this time he did not ask,” Erivo recalled to Vanity Fair. “He just walked up to me and gave me a kiss.”
Since the interview with Vanity Fair is from October 2019, the pair seemed to have been together for two years. But that’s seemingly all it was, for since that very year, the pair haven’t been seen together nor did they officially announce their breakup, though Erivo did delete Martinez from her Instagram.
Why Cynthia Erivo is ‘Very Tight-Lipped with My Relationships’
As mentioned before, Cynthia Erivo is incredibly private about her relationships. But this isn’t because she’s an introvert, or, perhaps, like many others, just wants to keep her private life away from the ever-prying limelight and paparazzi to save herself of the trouble. Rather, Erivo’s privacy stems from her belief that her relationships aren’t for anyone but her.
I’m very tight-lipped with my relationships, ’cause I don’t think that my relationship is for anyone else but for me. I spend so much of my life sharing everything — whether it’s my work or my soul or my life in speeches. I think I give enough of myself that I’m allowed to keep something for me.
Vanity Fair
That said, for now, Erivo is okay with people understanding that she’s “a queer person who could have relationships with men or women or neither.”
One Last But Very Important Question: Why Did Cynthia Erivo Cut Her Hair?
While her relationships have been a major topic of discussion over the years, the one thing Erivo has been nearly equally famous for, if not more, is why she decided to chop off all her hair. Turns out, the real reason behind it is because the singer cum actress simply wanted people to see her face, all of it, and the beauty it held, which she seemingly felt was shadowed by her hair.
When I cut my hair off, that was because I wanted people to just see my face, all of it. I didn’t want anything to hide behind. I wanted people to see all of me,” Erivo said. “I think there’s something about being able to see all of my skin that makes me feel really empowered. So I guess that’s something radical in the name of beauty, but I think it’s more about me showing up as myself.
Glamour
All of this being said, it’s inevitable that, over the years, Cynthia Erivo has truly learned to love and embrace herself just the way she is – be it with the flaws that others might see but she isn’t afraid to hide anymore or simply her unparalleled beauty that knows no bounds.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire