And the Oscar for best hard launch goes to… Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre!
The award-winning actress and dancer teased a romance with the “Lion King” actor in an Instagram post Monday, which showed the glamorous pair posing for an Oscars-inspired photoshoot. Both Taylor and Pierre attended Vanity Fair’s Oscar after-party on Sunday night, though they were photographed separately.
The black-and-white Instagram photos saw Taylor, dressed in an elegant floor-length gown, smolder for the camera while Pierre, donning a crisp tuxedo, looked beside her. “Oscar night in black (and) white, no grey area. 🤍” she wrote.
The romantic post comes nearly two years after Taylor confirmed her separation from ex-husband Iman Shumpert.
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Taylor and Pierre for comment.
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Essence magazine, which honored Taylor at its Black Women in Hollywood Awards last week, celebrated the multihyphenate entertainer’s personal news in its own Instagram post.
“This is how you do a hard launch!” the outlet wrote. “P.S. It should be illegal for two people this beautiful to be together!”
Pierre, who broke out with his role as young Mufasa in the Disney prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King,” previously appeared in Barry Jenkins’ “The Underground Railroad” series and M. Night Shyamalan‘s thriller “Old.”
In 2024, Pierre starred as Malcolm X in the miniseries “Genius: MLK/X” and played an ex-Marine with fight in the Netflix action thriller “Rebel Ridge.”
Why did Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert break up?
In a September 2023 Instagram post, Taylor revealed her split from Shumpert, whom she’d been married to for seven years. The former couple also shares daughters Iman Tayla, 9, and Rue Rose, 4.
“We are still the best of friends, great business partners and are one hell of a team when it comes to co-parenting our 2 beautiful children,” Taylor wrote at the time. “Most importantly we are family (and) in the 10 (years) together, 7 (years) married we ain’t ever played with or about that.”
The “White Men Can’t Jump” star also seemingly debunked online rumors that the couple broke up due to Shumpert’s alleged infidelity, adding that the actress-dancer and former NBA player chose to handle their breakup privately.
“To be 1000% clear, ‘infidelity’ ain’t one of the reasons for our departure,” Taylor wrote. “We just keep y’all (butts) out (of) the group chat lol, which is the reason we’ve been able to successfully (and) peacefully separate without all of the outside noise. The only reason I’m even sharing this part of the chat is because the narratives are getting a little out of hand (and) it’s unfair to all parties involved.”
Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
