Fantasia Barrino has been entertaining audiences for almost 20 years now. After making her debut in season 3 of American Idol, the singer, 39, became a household name, and she went on to win the competition. After her stint on Idol, she released her debut album Free Yourself, which became a platinum record. Since her debut, she’s had a number of career achievements, like winning a Grammy and having many more hit albums. Most recently, she’s made her feature film debut with The Color Purple musical, which will be released in theaters on December 25, 2023.
Fantasia has had her husband Kendall Taylor by her side for the past eight years. Despite a very short courtship, it’s clear that they have a great connection, and they seem to still be going strong. Get to know everything you need to about Kendall and his relationship with Fantasia here.
How Did Fantasia Meet Kendall?
Fantasia revealed that she and Kendall had an instantaneous connection when they met on a night out at a nightclub. She said that their first meeting was at a “rooftop spot” in a 2019 Breakfast Club interview, and she explained that Kendall was a perfect gentleman. She added that they were “friends first” before getting married shortly after. “Never did he ever try to come on to me,” he said, via Nicki Swift. “It was just great conversation. I knew he was my dude. He became my boyfriend that night.”
They Got Married Very Fast
If their relationship sounds like it moved quickly, the pair’s marriage came just as fast. After just three weeks of knowing each other, the pair went down to the courthouse and had an intimate ceremony in 2015. “He was like ‘What’s good? I was like what you want to do? He was like, ‘let’s do it.’ We went and got married at the courthouse. None of y’all knew. The world didn’t know,” she said. Fantasia revealed they had another wedding on a yacht in July of that year, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Fantasia Said He Taught Her to ‘Love Herself’
Ahead of the release of The Color Purple, Fantasia gushed about Kendall in a November 2023 interview with Elle. “He treats me like a queen. He tells me I’m a queen every day. It’s not a day I don’t wake up to him saying, ‘Good morning, beautiful,’” she said.
The American Idol alum admitted that her husband helped switch her perspective on lots of things. “It wasn’t until I met my husband and I started becoming a woman that sat back and realized that everything I went through was necessary,” she told Elle. “Kendall, he’s pretty dope. I didn’t think I was going to have that because I didn’t think I deserved it. But remember, I told you I didn’t love myself. When I started to love on myself, I was like, girl, yeah, you deserve, you deserve, you deserve.”
They Started a Program for At-Risk Youth
Fantasia and Kendall have collaborated on a project that they’re very passionate about. She and the businessman began a program to help at-risk youth in Louisiana in May 2023, per WAFB. Kendall had founded the non-profit Salute 1st, which is a training and leadership academy for men. Kendall revealed that he was involved in violence and crime as a kid and worked to turn his life around. He said that he wanted to try to do the same for other young men. “While there are a lot of other programs that are incredibly necessary, ours are a little bit more confrontational, ours is a little bit more uncut, ours is a little bit more raw, a little more unapologetic, and I think that’s what the young people respect,” he told WAFB.
They Have a Daughter Together
Fantasia and Kendall welcomed their first daughter Keziah London Taylor, 2, together in May 2021. While Keziah is the singer’s first child with her husband, she’s also a mom to two older kids from past relationships: Zion Quari, 22, and Dallas Xavier, 12, via People.
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