Lena Waithe Reveals She Wed Longtime Partner Alana Mayo In Private Ceremony

"It really was a humbling day to marry someone so amazing," the "Queen & Slim" screenwriter said.
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Lena Waithe has revealed that she “snuck” and married her fiancée, Alana Mayo, in a private ceremony in San Francisco.

The screenwriter for the upcoming film “Queen & Slim” discussed her nuptials during an appearance on Friday’s episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” with guest host John Legend, who was recently dubbed People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2019.

“We snuck and did it,” Waithe said on the show. “We didn’t really make any announcements.”

Waithe, a producer, screenwriter and actor, revealed that it was Mayo’s idea to get married at San Francisco’s City Hall, where the late LGBTQ rights icon Harvey Milk is memorialized.

“We went to the courthouse, got married right in front of Harvey Milk’s bust,” Waithe said. “It was her idea ― like all good things are.”

Waithe later gushed over Mayo, who serves as the head of production and development at Outlier Society, Michael B. Jordan’s production company. Mayo previously served as the vice president of production at Paramount Pictures.

“It really was a humbling day to marry someone so amazing, but also to really appreciate all the work that so many people have put in for us to be able to do that,” Waithe added.

Waithe and Mayo got engaged on Thanksgiving Day in 2017 after dating for a few years.

“The Chi” creator noted that other than getting engaged on the holiday, the day is significant in her life for other reasons.

Waithe won an Emmy for co-writing an episode titled “Thanksgiving” on Netflix’s “Master of None.” The episode, written with Aziz Ansari, told Waithe’s character’s coming-out story, which was inspired by her real life. Waithe became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for best comedy series writing.

Furthermore, Waithe’s upcoming “Queen & Slim” will premiere the week of Thanksgiving.

The film, directed by Melina Matsoukas, stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith.

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