Million-dollar couples - Interview

Ebony, May, 2003 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

Lewis is writing and producing and making plans to accompany Toni to New York this summer, with both children. With all of the chaos surrounding them, they try to find an oasis of sanity time with each other. "Usually Sunday is our day," she says. "We'll stay in bed together and watch movies or go out to eat." Lewis says, "We try to reserve Sundays to just relax and enjoy each other."

DENNIS ARCHER/TRUDY DUNCOMBE ARCHER will celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary next month and at least half of their married life has been in the public arena. "It's not the glitz or the glamor that attracts either of us to our roles we have sought, but the opportunity to serve the public," says Archer, who is the former mayor of Detroit and is president-elect of the American Bar Association, the first African-American to hold that position. He is also chairman of Dickinson Wright PLLC, a 200-person Detroit-based law firm with offices in Michigan and Washington, D.C. His wife is a District Court judge in Detroit and has been on the bench for nearly 14 years. The couple has two adult sons, both of whom are also lawyers.

Judge Archer says that while the couple is very busy, one of the ways they make time to be together is by sharing late dinners. "Everyone who knows us, knows that we eat very, very late," she says. "Whenever Dennis is in town, we share dinner even if he gets home at 10:00 p.m." When their two children were small, she says, she would sit with them while they ate early, but then she would wait and have a late dinner with her husband.

Today they are still quite busy, but they enjoy dinner with friends and spending quiet time together. "We [still] go out on Saturday afternoon dates," she says. And believe it or not, they enjoy going to discount warehouses.

ANTOINE FUQUA/LELA ROCHON say the recent arrival of baby Asia has considerably shortened their romantic time. The couple also enjoys spending family time with Antoine's son, Zachary. So it was a rare treat for the pair to jet away to New York together, while Fuqua was filming a blues concert in the city. But their romantic weekend quickly turned into a telethon because they spent most of their free time calling Los Angeles to check on the baby.

At a movie premiere they were similarly distracted. "We went to the premiere for the movie Biker Boyz," says Rochon, "and the whole time I was there I was just missing my baby." The whole family will head to Europe when Fuqua directs his new project, the $100 million film epic King Arthur. The hot young director is in demand after two critically acclaimed projects, Training Day with Denzel Washington and Tears of the Sun with Bruce Willis. He says one of the perks of being in demand is that he can keep his family close. "I tell them up front that my family is important and that I'd like to make arrangements for my family to be with me," he says.

In an upcoming project, Family Reunion, the high-wattage couple will work together, with both producing the film, and Lela starring. They are also developing projects that will allow Fuqua to direct his wife, something that hasn't happened in their careers. But it won't be a problem, he says. "I know who the boss is!"