Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Crushes Past and Present

For the longest time I had a huge crush on actor-director Tyler Perry.  Past crushes include Blair Underwood, Denzel Washington, Jermaine Jackson ( before he started acting and looking crazy and fathering all those kids from different women), Antonio Banderas and Andy Garcia.  Since watching the BBC production of North & South this past January I have not given a thought to Tyler Perry.  Actually, my crush on Mr. Perry had been waning for some time and watching Richard Armitage in North & South put out the last flame of my Tyler Perry Crush.

Top left to right are Denzel Washington, Andy Garcia and Blair Underwood.  Bottom left to right are Jermain Jackson, Tyler Perry and Antonio Banderas.  

My crushes tend to not just be about looks.  It is usually connected to things I read about the person in interviews that they give.  I love it when family is important to a man.  Jermaine Jackson was my first big crush starting from my preteen years, all the way into my twenties.  Back then Jermaine was considered to be the first black male sex symbol and I could not have agreed more at the time.  I was determined that when I grew up I would meet and marry Jermaine.  You can imagine how upset I was when I read in Jet magazine that Jermaine was engaged to Berry Gordy's only daughter Hazel Joy Gordy.  I had never even heard of her until that point.  I was so disappointed.  I was so sure that all Jermaine had to do was wait for me to get a little older and then we would meet, he would fall madly in love with me and I would have my fairytale wedding. 

On December 15, 1973 Jermaine Jackson married Hazel Gordy.  The wedding costs totalled $60,000.  Here is the happy couple as the bride is kissed by her father Motown Founder Berry Gordy.  As jealous as I was of Hazel, I still loved that Jermaine seemed to be a family man who put his wife and children first.  Jermaine seemed so devoted to his family and I like to think that he was sincere about it at the time before he committed adultery.  

Jermaine and Hazel were married for nearly 14 years and had three children together.  Towards the end of their marriage Jermaine had a son by another woman.  Hazel forgave Jermaine that lapse in judgement.  However, while Hazel was pregnant with their third child she found out that Jermaine had gotten the same woman pregnant again.  Hazel and Margaret Maldonado were pregnant at the same time.  That is when Hazel threw in the towel.  I really do not want to be judgmental, however, cheating and dishonoring someone that you are supposed to be in a committed relationship with is serious.  Cheating is non-negotiable to me and it is something I do not think I could get past because the bonds of trust would be broken.

I began to admire Tyler Perry through his work.  It really was not his physical looks that got to me.  Mr. Perry seems to be a man who is true to himself and has a close relationship with the Creator.  Mr. Perry's life story is very inspirational.  I loved the messages in his plays and movies.  Forgiveness is a common theme throughout all of them.  Through Tyler Perry's work I came to understand that forgiveness is not so much for the other person, but for yourself so that you can move on.  Holding a grudge can eat away at you and rob you of your health and happiness.  After learning that lesson through Mr. Perry I was able to let go of a situation that I was holding onto and it was like a huge burden off my back and life.  From what I gather Tyler Perry is still dating Ethiopian model Gelila Bekele.  They have been dating for several years now.  I hope that one day soon Mr. Perry will decide to settle down and have a family with the love of his life. 



Here we have British actor Richard Crispin Armitage.  What a man!!!  Richard Armitage is simply one of the handsomest men I have ever seen.  I am not a fan of beards but Richard looks wonderful with his.  This is actually one my favorite photos of him.  I love the serious contemplation look on his face.  Richard looks very intelligent here and even kind of bookish.  I find men who love to read a very sexy trait.  Men who love to read are great for conversation as well.   

My crush goes beyond Richard's physical appearance though.  I love Richard's love and dedication to his craft.  I love the seriousness and intensity that he puts into his work.  I don't care for some of his choices earlier in his career but I can understand taking work when you can get it.

Richard Armitage and aspects of some of the characters he has played actually makes up my dream man, but I will explain that in another post since this one is getting a bit long.

     
                     

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My big crush will always be Christopher Eccleston :) But I sooo get the Richard A. appeal, I love him too!

Collar City Brownstone said...

I had to look up who Christopher Eccleston is. I think that all women develop crushes on famous people. I wonder if men experience the same thing. Isn't Richard Armitage a dream???