Picture Supply: Getty / David Becker and Getty / Prince Williams
Destiny performed a job in bringing TLC singer Chilli and “Boy Meets World” alum Matthew Lawrence collectively. In a March 3 interview with Entertainment Tonight, the previous sitcom star shared particulars about how he and Chilli met for the primary time because the duo confirmed their relationship on Instagram on Jan. 1.
Based on Lawrence, a snowstorm led to the long run couple ending up on the identical airplane trip, they usually instantly hit it off. “So we had been at this factor. We had been working. We simply mentioned hi there in passing and possibly nothing would’ve come of that, however there was this large snowstorm,” Lawrence mentioned.
He continued, “I needed to be again for work, so I used to be getting them [the airline] to vary my flights throughout. The one flight I might get was a connecting flight by means of Atlanta. She lives in Atlanta. So, she was flying on that flight. So, actually it was the flight, speaking after which afterwards saying, ‘Hey, let’s preserve involved.’ That is actually what made it, and it virtually didn’t occur. I imply, actually, an hour earlier than the flight took off they had been like, ‘OK, we received you on this flight. You gotta go.’ So it was identical to that form of factor.”
Though Lawrence felt an instantaneous connection to Chilli, they did not rush their relationship. “It was simply actual friendship, you already know, for like 5 or 6 months, simply speaking on the cellphone lengthy distance, like, attending to know one another, see one another right here and there,” he mentioned. “However, actually, simply protecting it as associates and being, you already know, let’s preserve our priorities straight right here. We wanna know what we’re all about. We do not wanna take this too quick.”
Lawrence and Chilli quickly found they shared most of the identical values. Most significantly, they each put their households first and perceive the significance of taking cellphone calls from their mothers. “She’s simply received, you already know, her morals and her values,” he advised ET. “The way in which she treats her household. She loves my household, so necessary.”
When requested if kids had been within the playing cards for them, Lawrence advised ET, “That is the sport plan. That is what we’re attempting to do.” Nonetheless, later, in a March 15 interview with E! News selling his new podcast referred to as “Brotherly Love,” Lawrence clarified that his household plans weren’t as concrete as they got here off. “It is such an attention-grabbing story. Joe and I had been commiserating about this plan that we needed to have kids collectively . . . once we had been rising up,” he mentioned, referring to his older brother. “And I missed the primary go round and now he is beginning a brand new household and I used to be pondering, ‘Man, it would be nice if we might do it once more,’ after I did not have the possibility to boost a household collectively.”
Finally, he by no means meant to place any untimely expectations on his relationship. “So, that is what I meant by that. I did not imply to place any strain on any person I used to be relationship or something,” he mentioned. And but, he is nonetheless not ruling kids with Chilli out. “She’s an incredible particular person,” he continued. “She’s already a mom, she has an unbelievable son. I respect a lot as to how she’s raised him. She’d be an unbelievable mom once more, and I might be extremely fortunate, however that is method sooner or later.”
As for Chilli, she revealed in a March 17 radio interview on “Ryan Cameron Uncensored” that having children with Lawrence in the future is not off the desk. “You by no means know,” Chilli mentioned. “I’d by no means say that [I’m done].”
However the singer does have a reasonably large prerequisite: she desires to be married first. “I gotta be married for certain … and I am not married, but,” she defined. (Chilli already has one little one, 25-year-old Tron, whom she shares along with her ex, Dallas Austin.
Lawrence and Chilli have come a good distance of their relationship in a short while. Through the early days, they saved their romance out of the highlight as they received to know each other. Sources advised TMZ the pair weren’t romantic after they had been noticed in Hawaii collectively in August 2022, however on Jan. 3, the “No Scrubs” singer’s rep, Christal Jordan, confirmed to People that she and Lawrence grew to become romantically concerned simply earlier than Thanksgiving, including that she’s “by no means seen [Chilli] this in love” within the 17 years they’ve labored collectively. “She is glowing. They’re actually cute collectively,” Jordan advised the publication.
They then went on to spend the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays collectively in Chilli’s hometown of Atlanta, going Instagram official by each posting a video dancing to A-ha’s “Tackle Me” in matching onesies.
The information adopted the September 2022 finalization of Lawrence’s divorce from “Dancing With the Stars” dancer Cheryl Burke. The pair were married for 3 years earlier than Burke filed for divorce in February 2022. “We undoubtedly did attempt. Individuals evolve. Individuals develop. And typically they develop collectively and typically they sadly develop aside,” Burke advised People in Could of the break up.
In the meantime, Chilli has been open about her seek for love — and her requirements. “I am not into settling for bull💩,” she wrote within the feedback part of a video she shared on Instagram in December 2021 in response to a commenter asking why she was nonetheless single. “I have never met the ONE in my league but . . . he is a uncommon discover like myself. U take care now❤️”.
Like Burke, Chilli has had high-profile relationships in the past. The singer beforehand dated Usher and Nick Cannon. In the meantime, Lawrence was engaged to Heidi Mueller earlier than breaking it off along with her and marrying Burke in 2019.
However for Lawrence, his relationship with Chilli is in contrast to any relationship he is been in earlier than. “My life is in an entire bloom proper now,” he mentioned to ET. “I get to spend time with an incredible girl like Chilli. I’ve by no means gotten to have the ability to expertise that form of relationship earlier than, so it is fairly particular. She’s a very, actually particular human being. I want extra folks on the planet had been like her. We would be significantly better off.”