Jussie Smollett Announces His Engagement

The couple has been dating since at least 2023, according to reports, and have kept their relationship out of the public’s eye until the announcement. They starred together as a married couple in The Lost Holiday, a drama released in 2024, which starred Vivica A. Fox. It’s the second film Smollett directed. The news was met with joy by his friends and family, with younger sister and actress Jurnee Smollett sharing her congratulations on the Instagram post. “Screaming with tears of joy! My whole heart loves both of you @jussiesmollett. Welcome to the family @jabariredd,” she wrote paired with three heart emojis.

Smollett’s news comes one month after his decision to settle a lawsuit filed against him in Chicago related to an alleged incident in 2019 where he claimed that he was attacked as the victim of a hate crime. The details of the incident roused the suspicions of prosecutors, and he would go through a court trial and spend a brief time in jail before being released. Smollett agreed to pay $50,000 to Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts.

“Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, City officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself. This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear,” Smollett wrote at the time on Instagram. “The officials wanted my money and wanted my confessions for something I did not do. Today it should be clear, they have received neither.”