Aretha Franklin and Glynn Turman met backstage at a Ben Vereen show in the late 1970s. Her son, Clarence Franklin, introduced them by running up to Turman and telling him how much his mother loved him.
“I said ‘Who’s your mother?'” Turman recalled in a 2018 interview. “He said, ‘Aretha Franklin.’ I said ‘Whoa.'”
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The pair got married on April 11, 1978 in New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father worked as a pastor. They divorced in 1984, allegedly due to the strain of their long-distance relationship, but they remained close friends and would frequently speak over the phone. Turman even visited her during her final days.
“The good times were wonderful,” Turman said, as reported by People. “The things we were able to share, things we were able to do together, the concerts that we were able to share. People think of her often as an iconic singer, an iconic performer, but they don’t necessarily remember that she was a mother and a wife and someone’s lover. There was that part that I’m glad I got to know about.”
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Turman went on to say, “She was hilarious. She had a roster of jokes and could make funny situations out of situations that you wouldn’t think were funny.”
Turman is an Emmy-award winning actor, director, writer, and producer. He appeared in iconic projects like Cooley High, A Different World, House of Lies, and The Wire. In 2025, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Franklin was an iconic singer and songwriter with hits like “Respect,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” She recorded over 800 songs and sold over 75 million records. She was also an avid Civil Rights and Women’s Rights activist.
“Women’s Rights Movement should have her name written all over,” Turman said. “She just didn’t take tea for the fever, as the old folks would say. She was stubborn and hard to persuade. When she got her mind made up on something, you might as well pretty much forget trying to change it.”
Franklin never married again while Turman is with his third wife, Jo-Ann Allen, who he married in 1992.