Jon Batiste Secretly Married Suleika Jaouad, His Partner of Eight Years

glamour.com:

We Are, and beating out major pop stars like Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, and .In an interview with , Jaouad, who is the author of the bestselling cancer memoir , confirmed the bittersweet news. “We got married the day before I was admitted to the hospital to undergo my bone marrow transplant,” she told CBS correspondent Jim Axelrod. “We have known that we wanted to get married, I think, from the first week that we started dating.

That's when Jon first brought up the topic of marriage to me. So, we've had eight years.” She added with a laugh, "This is not, you know, a hasty decision!"Because of the impromptu nature of their “tiny, beautiful, little ceremony,” the author said that they had to forego a few traditional elements, including exchanging formal wedding rings. “We used bread ties,” she said.

Batiste added that his new bride's latest struggles with leukemia are not going to “interrupt the plan that we have. This is just a bump in the road.” He went on to explain that their marriage is “an act of defiance.

The darkness will try to overtake you, but just turn on the light. Focus on the light. Hold onto the light.”Jaouad went on to explain that after she was diagnosed for the second time, Batiste confessed to her that he had been planning on proposing for a year. “He said to me, 'I just want to be very clear, I'm not proposing to you because of this diagnosis.