Michael B. Jordan and Lori Harvey sent the internet up earlier this year when they decided to claim each other on the 'gram. And you know what they say: it's not official until it's on the world wide web. We've all seen the pictures, we've all heard the stories. Now, we're excited to see where they go from here.
And trust me when I say, it took A LOT to get here.
Lori Harvey/Instagram
MBJ is notorious for keeping his personal life under wraps, Lori, eh, not so much. The world has had so much to say about each, to the point where our boy is finally talking about it. In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the actor opened up about why Harvey changed his mind about keeping everything off-line.
"I'm still private, and I want to protect that, but it just felt like it was a moment of just wanting to put it out there and move on. I am extremely happy."
King said he's "extremely happy," whew! He continued:
"I think when you get older, you feel more comfortable about the [public nature] of the business that we're in. So for me, it was a moment to, I guess, take ownership of that and then get back to work."
Rumors about Harvey and Jordan's relationship began circulating last year after the two were spotted together during the holiday season in Atlanta, as well as in Salt Lake City. Since, the couple has flaunted their union on social media time and time again. He lovingly refers to her as "turtle," and she calls him "Nugget."
They've also made headlines after the model shared snapshots of their lavish Valentine's Day celebration at a rented out, exclusive Georgia Aquarium, for a private tour and seafood dinner from the Japanese restaurant Nobu.
*Um, Lord, have you been hearing me? I ask usually around about 9:00 p.m., my bedtime if you've missed my prayers, but I can be louder if you need me to be...*
Lori Harvey/Instagram
Anyway, we need to give MBJ some flowers for his growth on the subject, because just a few years ago, he was not with his personal life being out here on front street, and he even admitted that dating has always taken a backseat to his career. He told GQ:
"I'm very mature and advanced in a lot of areas of life. Dating may not be one of 'em. My personal life is not. I don't really know what dating is."
Either way, we're happy that he acknowledges his growth in the dating department, as he is highly, and I mean highly, praised by everyone around. Steve Harvey even famously put his two cents into the mix, saying:
"I have tried to find something wrong with him that I could dig in and go ... 'cause I done got rid of all of them. All of them. Some of them just snuck in the back door on me and lasted a lot longer than I wanted it to. But this guy is such a good guy, man. He is one of the nicest guys, man. I met his father. I've sat up with him. We've talked for hours. I just can't find nothing wrong with him."
And MBJ even returned the favor, recently saying that he thinks it would be "f*cking awesome" to compete on Celebrity Family Feud, which of course Harvey hosts.
Whew. OK, Lord, I'll just be louder, then. Just in case. But while I wait, I'll catch him in Without Remorse which hits Amazon Prime this weekend, instead, 'kay?
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Featured image by BAKOUNINE/Shutterstock.com
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak