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Boris & Nicole: TV's hottest real-life love story
Ebony, Oct, 2004 by Zondra Hughes
REALITY TV" romance doesn't get any more real than this.
Consider this: Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe, onscreen lovers Teri and Damon from the Showtime original drama series Soul Food--are back on the small screen. This time, they are a divorced couple who give marriage a second chance on the new UPN sitcom Second Time Around--and the new sitcom is on target in more ways than one.
Not only are Boris and Nicole a real-life couple (with child) who are on their way to the altar, but the personalities of the sitcom sweethearts--Nicole portrays Ryan Muse, a free-spirited artist, and Boris is Jackson Muse, a buttoned-down architect--are eerily similar to their in-the-flesh personas as well.
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"When it comes to work, personal experiences and relationships, I'm very structured," Boris admits. "I'm very disciplined and focused, so it's something about the character Jackson, the architect, that is definitely similar to who I am as a person."
Nicole, the ethereal free spirit, jibes in." And he's controlling," she jokes. "And exacting. And meticulous."
For months, the couple had categorically denied that there was indeed a real romance brewing behind the scenes, but the millions of eagle-eyed fans knew better. And for the first time, Boris and Nicole have granted EBONY readers an exclusive sneak peek into the reality love story behind the fantasy love story that has engrossed diehard fans and gossipmongers alike all across the country.
It's a lazy Friday afternoon, and Boris and Nicole are snuggling at one of their favorite hideaways, the Raffles L'Ermitage luxury hotel. Nestled in the bosom of Beverly Hills, the L'Ermitage is the fabled playground of the haves and the have-mores, a historic hotel where old White wealth and new Black money mingle effortlessly without the hassles of the privacy-invading paparazzi.
It's also the place where Boris & Nicole--aka the newest addition to Hollywood's "Caramel Camelot"--retreat to kick back and fall in love after a hard day's work on the set.
Inside the suite, Boris looks over at Nicole and instinctively reaches out to touch her.
"It's like the dream world and real world is reversed for us," he explains, stroking his pregnant fiancee's stomach." A lot of people sleep 12 hours a day because they don't want to wake up. But I don't want to sleep because I feel like I'm living a dream. So when I'm lying in bed beside her, I do a double take. And I could not see myself with a more beautiful person inside and out. I know I'm lucky as hell."
Nicole responds with a beetred blush.
Boris peeps her reaction and laughs." It's not that I haven't told her that before," he jokes. "I don't know why she's blushing!"
HER STORY
Growing up as the only child of divorced parents, Susan Parker, a health care professional, and Donald Parker, a dentist, Nicole Ari (her middle name) Parker was just about the only brown face at her private all-girls grammar school. In order to keep aligned with her sense of self, Nicole spent hours play-acting in her Baltimore home.
She wanted to be like the sexy, sassy Willona from the sitcom Good Times.
Nicole studied hard--despite her habit of clowning around in the classroom--and won roles in various local theater productions.
At the age of 17, she won best actress in the state of Maryland's high school competition and decided that it was time to follow her dreams. Although her parents were less than thrilled, she began to find work at the Baltimore Actors Theatre, and then moved on to the Washington Ballet Company before applying to the New York University Tisch School of the Arts behind her parents' back.
After a string of odd jobs (she used to scoop ice cream for a living), bit-roles and working for pennies in the theater circuit, Nicole was offered the breakthrough role on Soul Food.
Somewhere between establishing an impressive acting resume and landing her gig on Soul Food, Nicole eloped with an up-and-coming Hollywood director and she believed that she had everything under control.
And she did--that is, until hurricane Boris rolled into her Life.
To let Nicole tell it, she never really wanted Boris--at least not in that way.
"When I first saw Boris, we were in script rehearsals for Soul Food. When he walked into the room, I thought, with some dismay 'Oh great, they've got a supermodel to play my boyfriend,'" Nicole recalls. "I mean he's obviously beautiful, but I was an actress from New York who wanted an established actor from New York to walk through the door."
Boris, who's accustomed to women literally falling to the floor when he's around, recalls that he received a lukewarm reception from nearly everyone but Nicole.
"Nicole gave me this big hug and she welcomed me," he says." I knew right away that this person had a very special heart and spirit." Nicole felt it, too.
"The chemistry was so strong that it was just undeniable that something was going to come of this relationship other than the professional one. I knew that I met someone that I wanted to remain in my life."
