Health and Wellness
13 Photos of Dondre Whitfield and Salli Richardson-Whitfield Through the Years
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 08: Actors Salli Richardson Whitfield and Dondre Whitfield pose for a photograph during the eighth Annual AAFCA Awards at Taglyan Complex on February 8, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images)
We love long love stories! (By the way, that word costs 25 cents for “long story.”) That’s exactly what actress/director Salli Richardson-Whitfield and actor Dondre Whitfield have. The couple married in 2022 after meeting 27 years ago when the director was working together on his series with Kadeem Hardison and Tommy Davidson.
During an appearance on the OWN series in 2019, the beauty admitted that she was the first person to say the L word.
“I think I was the first person to say, ‘You marry me, or I marry you.’ I was just in love,” she said at the time, before delving into the day she told Dondre she loved him. “What do you do when you’re that in love? I think I said, ‘You don’t have to say anything, I just want you to know how I feel.’”
Of course, Dondre felt the same way.
“Literally, when we met, we spent five days in a row — like, I didn’t come home. I slept in my clothes; we didn’t do anything. It was the first time in my life that I didn’t try anything. There was something about her that I just felt this connection,” he said during a panel in 2021. “I took her to breakfast every day. I went to the mall to buy new clothes. I didn’t come home for five days in a row. That’s literally how it happened.”
The couple married and soon became parents to children: Parker (a proud Spelman student) and Dre.
Although Salli was certain from the starting that she loved Dondre, she didn’t realize that he was the one for her until they became husband and wife.
“We had our ups and downs and breakups, to figure out how to navigate that, especially in Hollywood, being in the business and under all kinds of pressures… I feel like once you get married, you still don’t know. You don’t know what you’re getting into. And I really believe that now, in our marriage, I don’t know if I knew then, but I do now,” she said in 2021.
The couple has come a great distance since they met in the late ’90s. Check out photos of the pair and their kids over the years.
Dondre T. Whitfield (currently starring in NBC’s “Hidden Hills” and Salli Richardson (starring in Dreamworks’ “Biker Boyz” and playing Denzel Washington’s wife in his directorial debut, “Antwone Fisher”). Exclusive Photos (Photo by Barry King/WireImage)
HOLLYWOOD – JANUARY 28: (US TABS OUT) Actors Dondre Whitfield and his wife Salli Richardson attend the after-party following the premiere of the movie “Biker Boyz” on January 28, 2003 at The Garden of Eden in Hollywood, California. (Photo by: Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
Salli Richardson and her husband Dondre Whitfield attend the sixth Annual Mercedes-Benz DesignCure event at the home of Sugar Ray and Bernadette Leonard in Pacific Palisades, California, USA. (Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
Salli Richardson Whitfield along with her daughter and Dondre Whitfield (photo: Leon Bennett/WireImage)
NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11: Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield (left) and her husband actor Dondre Whitfield arrive for the New York premiere of “I Am Legend” at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 2007 in New York City. (Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage)
Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield and her husband Dondre Whitfield attend the seventeenth annual ESPY Awards celebrity golf tournament at Industry Hills Golf Club on July 14, 2009 in Industry, Calif. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage)
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 30: Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield and her husband Dondre Whitfield attend the eleventh Annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational Gala at Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter on March 30, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for MJCI)
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – NOVEMBER 10: Actors Salli Richardson-Whitfield (L) and Dondre Whitfield arrive at Tommy Davidson’s party at HOME on November 10, 2013 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/WireImage)
HOLLYWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 17: Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Dondre Whitfield and children Parker Richardson-Whitfield and Dre Terrell Whitfield arrive at the premiere of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Zootopia” at the El Capitan Theatre on February 17, 2016 in Hollywood, California. (Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 18: Actors Dondre Whitfield (R) and Salli Richardson attend Morehouse College’s a hundred and fiftieth Anniversary: The twenty ninth Annual “A Candle In The Dark” Gala at The Hyatt Regency Atlanta on February 18, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 6: Salli Richardson-Whitfield (L) and Dondre Whitfield attend the tenth Annual AAFCA Awards at Taglyan Complex on February 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 2: Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Dondre Whitfield attend the premiere of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty” at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on March 2, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 14: (L-R) Salli Richardson and Dondre Whitfield attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Apple’s “They Call Me Magic” at Regency Village Theatre on April 14, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)