‘Mathis Household Issues’ Star Greg Mathis Jr. Opens Up About Engagement to Elliott Cooper (Unique)

Greg Mathis Jr. and Elliott Cooper are able to tie the knot! 

The Mathis Household Issues star and Cooper are planning to wed in a personal ceremony in Cabo San Lucas – certainly one of their “favourite trip locations” – on October 21, 2024. The couple may even host a second, bigger celebration for family and friends in Los Angeles subsequent yr.

“To be fully sincere, for a few years, we weren’t positive if we wished to formally get married,” Mathis Jr. tells PEOPLE in an unique interview. “We knew that we beloved one another and that we wished to be collectively for all times, however marriage appeared a bit tougher to visualise.”

Provides Cooper, “There simply weren’t many married {couples} like us to look as much as.”

However now, Mathis Jr. and Cooper view their impending nuptials as a “should have,” noting the significance of illustration within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.  “To us, it’s larger than the establishment of marriage and extra about us having a particular option to honor the life we’ve constructed collectively.”

“We’re very conscious of the occasions we at present reside in and what our relationship represents to others,” the couple shares. “We notice that our marriage, and our relationship, can present a roadmap to Queer individuals ‘classic’ and younger who, similar to us, need to know that there’s nothing fallacious with them and that they’ve a spot on this world.”

The couple provides that they’re most wanting ahead to “spending high quality time with one another and our households in Cabo,” as their households have solely met as soon as previous to the celebration. “We’re tremendous excited to see how Elliott’s southern, outdoorsy household retains up with my loud and ‘metropolis speaking’ household,” says Mathis Jr.

They’ve actions deliberate all through the marriage weekend, together with a whale-watching tour, particular dinners and wine tastings.

The couple spent the primary 5 years of their relationship relationship in personal as a result of they have been “afraid to share our relationship with the world out of concern of being judged.”

“We weren’t used to seeing two Black males date so publicly and unapologetically again then,” says Cooper. “We knew we beloved one another very a lot however didn’t essentially have a roadmap for what our relationship and future collectively might be.”

In 2022, after Mathis Jr.’s TV Choose father and the household determined to do a actuality television present, the pair made the brave choice to return out to the world and share their relationship on nationwide tv. 

Cooper proposed to Mathis Jr. on September 29, 2023 on the lavish French restaurant Republique in Los Angeles. “It’s a French themed restaurant that we fell in love with. It reminds us of our previous anniversary journeys to Paris, the primary place we felt secure sufficient to carry fingers in public. Republique is our little piece of Paris in Los Angeles,” says Mathis Jr.

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Their family and friends have been on the town for the proposal below the guise of supporting them on the 2023 Los Angeles Stroll to Finish Lupus, which they hosted. 

Cooper popped the massive query following the primary course of their dinner, after which they “have been so excited we couldn’t even end the remainder of our meal,” says Mathis.

In the case of married life, Mathis Jr., says he’s wanting ahead to the honeymoon. “I’m hoping I can persuade Elliott to go along with Bora Bora. I can also’t wait to start out our household and simply proceed experiencing this life collectively. We’re already a stable unit, however I’m excited for all the added enjoyable that the ‘Mathis-Coopers’ are going to have,” he says.

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In the meantime, Cooper cannot watch for the primary day of the remainder of his life as a married man.

“I’m actually simply glad that I can spend the remainder of my life with somebody that loves me for me with all my quirks, loopy tales, and different randomness I’ll dish out,” he says. “With Greg in my life I really feel like our future has no limits, despite the fact that it would, as a result of he’s the love [of] my life.”

Engagement Picture Shoot Credit:
Inventive Director: Darnell Appling and Jonathan Brooks, Cre8tive Idea Productions
Wardrobe: Danielle Premone, Stylist; Marissa Perez, Stylist Assistant 
Grooming: Reginald Jones
Hair: Greg Jackson