Nominee for Best Actor "Fences" Denzel Washington arrives on the red carpet with his wife Pauletta for the 89th Oscars on February 26, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Denzel Washington recognizes how blessed he is to have his wife, Pauletta. The pair wed in 1983 after meeting on the set of his first movie Wilma (1977). With forty years of marriage under their belt, Denzel is still gushing about how Pauletta makes him feel highly favored while also keeping him in check!
Denzel recently opened up about his personal life on the SiriusXM radio show Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray. The 68-year-old revealed how and why he admires his wife of 40 years.
“I’m thankful, and I have been blessed beyond measure with the greatest woman in the world, who not only is a beautiful woman and a great wife, and I love her, great mother of our children, but she holds everything together,” Denzel Washington said.
Denzel’s praise for Pauletta on the radio show came amid a conversation about Thanksgiving. The Training Day actor credits his wife for their holiday plans. This week, she’s the one “getting everything ready” in their home. His only job is to stay out of her way!
“…I don’t do anything in the kitchen but eat,” Washington said. “She kicked me outta there. She’s like ‘You have nothing to do with this. Just go make some money and get out the way.'”
Even with a Turkey Day emergency, Pauletta isn’t tapping on Denzel Washington to assist. She’s got it under control — a trait Denzel said he admires.
“The long table is out. People come from all over. She told me she had this 11th-hour issue this morning that was, like, they brought the wrong-size turkey or something,” Denzel Washington said in the Nov. 20 episode. “So she had to go get an extra turkey or something.”
This isn’t Denzel’s first time bragging about his wife or their decades-long love. After quietly celebrating their 35th anniversary in 2018, Washington told PEOPLE there are “too many things” he appreciates about Pauletta.
“What pops into my head: security, food, a beautiful home,” he said at the time. “The difference between a house and a home, it’s a big difference. You can buy a house, but that doesn’t make it a home – and not to say a man can’t make a home a home, but my wife has made our house a home and raised these beautiful kids and protected them and sacrificed for them, she did the heavy-lifting.”
Denzel Washington and Pauletta share four children together. According to PEOPLE, the eldest is 39-year-old John David, followed by 35-year-old Katia and 32-year-old twins Malcolm and Olivia.
In 2010, he told The Guardian his children are “generous and humble and kind,” all thanks to Pauletta. He said, “My children are good people. They are not perfect, but they are generous and humble, and kind. My wife did that.”
See a special moment between Denzel and Pauletta at the 2016 Golden Globes below.
