Raven-Symoné and Miranda Pearman-Maday are thinking about the beginning of their relationship, which included signing a contract.
“That’s funny. Miranda Pearman-Maday says in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE from the Los Angeles home she shares with her wife, the longtime Disney Channel star Raven-Symoné, “I actually did not believe I had signed a nondisclosure agreement.”
“Yeah, you did,” Raven-Symoné says with a sly grin as she holds a soft, goth bunny-shaped toy animal. “It was really hard for me. I fought against it many times with my team.”
Before their third wedding anniversary on June 16, the couple thought about their love story, which was shaped by the dreaded “don’t tell” talk early on. They were wearing sweats and hoodies and didn’t have any makeup on.
“I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to sign that. That’s insane. I didn’t like doing it,” Pearman-Maday, 35, says as she holds out her hand to her 37-year-old wife and kisses her palm.
In August 2015, Raven-Symoné went up to Pearman-Maday at a singing bar in West Hollywood. Pearman-Maday thought she would be alone for the rest of her life, but Raven-Symoné asked her out. Pearman-Maday knew they were meant to be together as soon as they looked at each other.
“I will meet Raven. I’m going to meet her. “I’ll know her!” Pearman-Maday remembers hearing a voice say.
Two days later, their feeling was confirmed when they went on a magical, low-key first date where they drank iced tea and talked about important things. Minutes turned into hours, and they didn’t even get out of the car before they realized it was 10 p.m.
They laughed and talked so much that eight hours went by, and they still didn’t want to leave. Pearman-Maday says, “After that, I went to her birthday party with her.” “It was one of those things where you didn’t want the other person to ever leave.”
“As good lesbians do, we never did,” says Raven-Symoné.
“Call me a psychic, a very sensitive person, or just crazy. Pearman-Maday adds, “I just knew she was the one for me.” “I love being right,” she said.
But going inside Raven-Symoné’s head meant breaking the law and having to stay quiet. When she thinks about it now, the Cheetah Girls star wishes they had never signed the NDA. She says, “It changes the way a relationship works from the start.” “But I could tell that Miranda was different. I tried hard and fought it.”
The former child star, who got her start on The Cosby Show and Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper when she was young, says she didn’t want to break the rules as she got older. She recently said on a show with Howie Mandel that her mother begged her to sign a contract with Pearman-Maday when they had been dating for two months. This happened at a French restaurant in New York, where they were eating with her mother.
She had confidentiality agreements with all of her relationships in the past to keep the tabloids from writing about them, but now she says it was a business choice she didn’t agree with.
“The people in charge of my job at the time thought it was important. They would look online and find out about everyone’s private lives. They didn’t want that for me. I guess none of you knew about my job back then, and thank God for that. But now you do!” she laughed.
Pearman-Maday says with a laugh, “Now I can’t write the tell-all book I was going to write.” “I’m sorry, babe!” she jokes to her husband.
Raven-Symoné says she’s sorry she didn’t accept her sexuality sooner. She came out as gay in 2013. “I wish I could have left earlier, but I couldn’t. She says, “When I finally came out, I felt like I ruined everyone’s childhood.” “I don’t get it, because no one knew who I was meeting in the first place. I’m getting stronger as I stay out of the closet longer and longer.”
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After high school, it was a whole new thing for Pearman-Maday to tell her friends and family that she was gay.
“My mom told me who I was. She said, ‘I know what’s going on. I’m not living under a rock, Miranda.’ “I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ We didn’t talk much,” she says. The same thing happened when she asked her father. “He said, ‘I work in theater, and I’ve seen everything.’ I thought, “This is great!”
During the pandemic, the couple said “I do” in the front yard of Debbie Allen’s Los Angeles home. Allen is a famous choreographer and Grey’s Anatomy star.
Pearman-Maday wore an all-white Gucci jumpsuit that her wife gave her. Pearman-Maday’s wife wore rainbow braids and crystal-studded Gucci ankle boots with her all-black outfit. Two days later, Raven-Symoné surprised fans by sharing on Instagram that she and Pearman-Maday were married.
“I got married to a woman who knows me from sadness to happiness, from breakfast to a midnight snack, from the stage to my house,” she wrote in the description for her post. “Mrs. Pearman-Maday, I love you so much!” Let’s make a new hole in this world!!! I’m now married.”
Later, when the Raven’s Home actress went back to work (she currently stars, executive produces and directs the show), she noticed a huge change in herself: she felt good all over, had lost 15 pounds, was glowing, and no longer cared what people thought of her.
“I was in love and happy. I’m with someone who likes me, talks to me, and gets on my nerves. She makes me both glad and angry. “She helps me and pushes me,” she says with a smile. “Love isn’t always easy. But I knew Miranda was the one for me because she makes me angry, which usually takes me years to get over. I won’t be able to look at you straight in the eyes. I need three hours with her. When it comes to relationships, taking the easy way out always ends in divorce, but we never do it.”
Raven-Symoné didn’t think love could end once they were married.
“I said, ‘Wait, no, just because we’re married doesn’t mean you can’t leave. It doesn’t mean you never hurt people or do bad things. So, we had to learn a few things the hard way,” Pearman-Maday says. “I still sometimes look at my wife and think, ‘Whoa, I’m married. Raven and I are married. We can finally show everyone how much we love them.”
The two hadn’t told anyone about their relationship for five years, and they did everything they could to keep it quiet. In 2015, a media outlet posted a picture of them taken by paparazzi, which upset Pearman-Maday.
“The picture is very ugly. I wanted to get away. Raven didn’t want us to be photographed, and neither did I. “I had problems with my sense of self-worth and confidence,” says Pearman-Maday. “We knew that the more people see a relationship in public, the more they can judge it. When we finally got married, it was time.”
Today, they both know more about who they are, how they want to be seen by the public, and what they want to share about their lives on social media. This is mirrored in their new podcast, The Best Podcast Ever, which is available on iHeartRadio.
As for their plans for being parents in the future, they are both excited to start a family. “But we both believe that whatever happens, happens. Pearman-Maday says, “We’re letting the universe decide what will happen.” “It’ll happen when, if, and how it’s meant to.”
Being a wife has been good for Raven-Symoné. “Everyone has a different idea of what marriage is. She says, “Ours is healing.” “Through couples therapy and physical work, we’ve helped each other heal for so many years of our lives. I trust her and am glad to have a partner who is willing to be kind, loving, and respectful like me.”
The two think that in the future, they will continue to help each other get better and help others do the same. Raven-Symoné says, “Being out and living the life I’m meant to have made me strong.” “Do I sometimes feel weird when I walk on the red carpet? Yes, but when my wife looks at me and tells me, “You’re fine,” I know I’m okay. This is what love means.”
