Angela Bassett & Courtney B. Vance
Though Angela Bassett has had memorable roles in Waiting to Exhale, Akeelah and the Bee and Boyz n Da Hood, it's her Oscar-nominated performance in What's Love Got to Do with It? that most people think of when they hear her name. Rachael asks Angela if she still keeps in touch with Tina Turner. "I saw her at Oprah's Legend's Ball. We were sitting around the dining room table and she was like, 'You played me well!' It was nice to hear it from her because it was a really daunting task."
Still sporting the amazing body (and arms!) she had in the movie, Angela shares her secret to looking and feeling good after 40. "Enjoy life," she says. "Have a light spirit, a light heart. Be ready to laugh. Be grateful and see the good in people and situations."
Rachael wants to know what her husband Courtney does to lighten Angela's spirit and make her laugh. "When he tries to dance," Angela admits. "He really thinks he's doin' it." What does Courtney have to say about that? "Now that I hear that on national television," he says, "I'm going to have to check myself out ... in the mirror!"
Decide for yourself -- watch Courtney B. "dance?"
Angela and Courtney have chronicled their falling in love and secrets to a healthy relationship in Friends: A Love Story. Courtney summarizes his goal as a husband: "I want peace in my home, I want a smile on my wife's face. What I had to realize was that she's first, and when the queen's happy, the land is happy." Watch the video above for Courtney's recipe for a good marriage.
In addition to the good times they've shared, the book also covers one of the most challenging periods of their life -- trying to conceive a child. "We went through about seven attempts at in vitro fertilization," Angela shares. "That was tough at times, but I had him by my side. I was disappointed but I never allowed my spirit to be just devastated to where I'm over in a corner somewhere weeping. Just get up, try again. He was very supportive, always letting me know it's about us, and it's about me, and we will have children, you know -- some way, someday, somehow ..."
Courtney was right, and today the happy couple has a beautiful set of twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah. "Surrogacy was the answer for us," Angela beams. "A wonderful family helped us out. And they were magnificent, and the kids are just brilliant!"



Cuban-Style Surf & Turf