Oh. My. God! Could Samira Wiley be any more adorable?
The Orange is the New Black actress recently opened up about her love story with bae and OITNB writer Lauren Morelli to Out magazine and we cannot stop reeling!
The full story online is crazy long so we printed just the best bits below for you. Enjoy!
Samira Wiley: We met in December 2012. We were both working on Orange Is the New Black, our first big jobs in the industry. We spent four days in a row working together.
Lauren Morelli: I’d already seen Samira’s audition tape and immediately had a crush on her — the complication being that I was married to a man at the time.
I had started questioning my sexuality as a result of being in the writers’ room and talking about all the themes on the show. I was still very confused, but I knew the attraction between us felt magnetic. We spent a couple of weeks together before Christmas on that first episode, and then I came back to New York in February.
Wiley: I found out she was married — I assumed to a woman. It was a little dagger in my heart. I remember this whirlwind of me falling in love in those four days.
My parents are pastors, and I have a real sense of the “right way” of doing things, so I was really cognizant of the fact that she was in a relationship. I loved her as a friend first, but after a while it was clear it was more than that.
Morelli: I was very open with my husband and told him. That turned into a year of going to couples therapy. It felt like my whole world was falling apart. I had a few queer women around me, but not many I could talk to about such a huge, vulnerable thing. Samira became my outlet, and through that process I fell in love with her.
Wiley: Right before (our trip to) Thailand, I flew to L.A. to see Lauren after she’d moved into her own apartment. It was the first time we could really be together. She got me a ring, which I now wear around my neck, and a card that said, “Will you be my girlfriend?”
Morelli: We were coming up on our three-year anniversary, and I was like, I will wait until we have our three years and then propose. Then I thought, What am I waiting for if I know I want this woman to be my wife and I want to spend my life with her?
Wiley: Lauren has been married before, so I wanted her to tell me she was ready, her to be the one to propose. I didn’t know she was as ready as she was. I was completely shocked. I was crying uncontrollably.
Morelli: I was so nervous and terrified she knew it was coming, but she was so shocked that I couldn’t get her to stop crying. She was hyperventilating. I thought, Oh, this is not good. This has gone too far. She was very clear she’d wait for me to be ready, so to give her something I knew she wanted so much was incredible. It was the most magical day of my life.
Wiley: I think — I know — I would not be where I am without Lauren. When I was first being thrust into the public eye, I wouldn’t talk about my orientation. Being with Lauren taught me self-love.
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