I know Jon Batiste as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he’s worked since 2015. He’s a prolific musician who has received multiple awards including a BAFTA, Oscar and Golden Globe. This year Batiste was nominated for 11 Grammys, which was more than any other artist. Most were for his eighth album, We Are, and he also received nominations for the soundtrack for Soul. He ended up taking home more Grammys than any other artist, five including Album of The Year. This made him the first Black man to win in that category since Herbie Hancock in 2008. (I wonder why that was.) Plus he’s only 35 years old! We’re going to be seeing so much more of him.
Batiste was interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning in a segment which aired this week. He explained that he doesn’t take his accomplishments for granted because things can change quickly. His longterm partner, author Suleika Jaouad, 33, has been undergoing treatment for a recurrence of leukemia. CBS spoke with each of them about their love story and about Suleika’s health journey. They both have a beautifully poetic way of speaking and although they were interviewed separately you can feel how connected they are. When Suleika explained that Jon wrote her lullabies he played for her over the phone every day she was in the hospital I cried so hard. The good news is that they recently got married in a small ceremony. They wanted to do it before Suleika’s bone marrow transplant, but they knew that they wanted to get married early in their relationship. They’ve been together eight years. I’m going to quote People Magazine here but I highly recommend you watch the video, below. There’s so much more from Jon about his music and relationship.
The Grammy winner, 35, secretly married longtime partner Suleika Jaouad in February. Jaouad, author of bestselling cancer memoir Between Two Kingdoms, told CBS Sunday Morning that the couple wanted to tie the knot after she was diagnosed with leukemia for the second time.
“We got married the day before I was admitted to the hospital to undergo my bone marrow transplant,” she told the outlet.
“We have known that we wanted to get married, I think, from the first week that we started dating. That’s when Jon first brought up the topic of marriage to me. So, we’ve had eight years,” Jaouad joked. “This is not, you know, a hasty decision!”
Despite the couple getting married before her bone marrow transplant, Jaouad, 33, said her diagnosis wasn’t really a factor in Batiste’s decision to pop the question.
“He said to me, ‘I just want to be very clear, I’m not proposing to you because of this diagnosis. It’s taken me a year to design your ring. So, just know this timing has nothing to do with it. But what I do want you to know is that this diagnosis doesn’t change anything. It just makes it all the clearer to me that I want to commit to this and for us to be together,'” Jaouad told CBS. “But once we realized we had this tiny window before the bone marrow transplant, we decided to go for it.”
Batiste and Jaouad were able to get their marriage license quickly and had a “tiny” and “perfect” wedding, adding that they “used bread ties” instead of formal wedding rings.
“And I’ll tell you, we walked into that bone marrow transplant unit on cloud nine,” Jaouad added. “We were so happy, so brimming with love and positivity from this beautiful evening that we’d had. And I really believe that that carried us through.”
I’m not overselling this by saying this was one of the most moving celebrity interviews I’ve ever seen. I came away from this praying for Suleika and Jon and I’m not religious at all. Here are two deeply creative people who are dealing with some of the darkest times of their lives. They’re so young too! They’ve channeled that through their art. Jon is next playing Carnegie Hall in May. I will listen to more of his music and follow his career. I wish all the best for Jon and Suleika. They’re both lovely people. I’m so glad that they found each other and are there for each other.
What incredible blessings tonight 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/uDv2kx8X0N
— jon batiste (@JonBatiste) April 4, 2022
Photos credit: Avalon.red and Instar
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcG5hZX56e8mopZiakam2tMDEmKSaqqKesqWr0q6jnqGblqyrrc6umJ2XmaOsp7HBq6yaqqmUr6ayzqucmKCVp6yju82elqaZoqe8uKvTq5inq6Chrq%2FAjg%3D%3D