Tisha Cambpell & Lenny Kravitz And 10 Other Surprising Former Celeb Couples

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Before Lenny Kravitz was a popular rockstar, and before he had one of the coolest though short-lived Hollywood marriages in his union to Lisa Bonet, he was a burgeoning performer dating Tisha Campbell.

You read that right. In his new book, Let Love Rule, he said that he met the Martin star while they were both auditioning and reading for a part in a play in California. He said he was taken by her eyes, her singing voice, and surprisingly, the star’s “street smarts and swagger.” Somehow, Kravitz ended up living with Campbell and her family in New Jersey and they fell in love. But after she was cast in projects like Little Shop of Horrors and School Daze, becoming a busy working actress, their time together dwindled. They would eventually call it quits.

Campbell alluded to this relationship without naming Kravitz while on an episode of OWN’s Girlfriends Check In earlier this year. She said he was her first “experience,” as in her first sexual experience.

“We dated for three years,” she said. “I don’t tell people this because people get too excited as if I didn’t have street cred prior to [the relationship].”

So now you know, not only did Kravitz and Campbell date, but they were in a pretty serious relationship. Sounds like Tisha needs to write her own book and spill the tea!

But if this relationship is a surprise to you, wait until you learn about these 10 other short-lived dating and pretty serious relationships some of your favorite celebs were in.

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Saweetie and Keith Powers

While we can’t get enough of her relationship with Quavo these days, way before they were an item, rapper Saweetie was dating actor Keith Powers. She said they actually dated for four years, which is a pretty serious relationship. While she’s now half of a new favorite couple, so is Powers. He dates beautiful actress Ryan Destiny.

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Lela Rochon and Shemar Moore

Say what you want about corny men. They just so happen to get all the beautiful ladies. Actor Shemar Moore is a great example of that. He’s dated Halle Berry, Toni Braxton and, in case you didn’t know, Lela Rochon. The two dated in the prime of their careers in 1996. They were spotted as a cozy item at a number of red carpet events. While he is still a ladies’ man out here, kissing whomever tickles his fancy, Rochon ended up settling down (her second marriage) with director Antoine Fuqua in 1997. They have two children, and despite some public marital drama, they’re still together.

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Nia Long and Chris Tucker

Nia Long has gone on a few dates with some very funny men. One of those men was Chris Tucker, her co-star in the hit comedy Friday. She said around the time they made that film, she inadvertently stunted on him because the more established actress was riding around in a BMW while the up-and-coming comedian was getting around in a jalopy.

“I bought myself a BMW. It was so cute. I was shooting Friday at the time, and Chris Tucker and I saw each other on the freeway, on the way to the set. I was going [Waves, imitates honking.] ‘Toot, toot!’ in my car. He had a busted window with a pizza box over it because he couldn’t afford to fix the window! We get to work and he goes, ‘When I grow up, I want to be just like you.'”

A few years later they went on a date, and Tucker was doing a lot better as he was a movie star.

“Cut to—all the money he made. Two years ago, we go out to dinner and he picked me up in—ready?—a Phantom Rolls-Royce, which—I couldn’t even figure out how to get the damn car door opened. I said to him: ‘Oh, you want to be like me? I think the tables have turned.’”

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AJ Johnson and Michael Jai White

Michael Jai White dated House Party actress AJ Johnson earlier on in his career after building a relationship with her as a fitness trainer. He admitted in a recent interview with VLAD TV that he had no clue initially that she was interested in him. He had a hard time seeing the signs until she flew him out to see her and he realized she didn’t get him a hotel room…

“She’s like, ‘We’re doing so great with the working out thing. Why don’t you come and train me while I’m doing this movie out here?’ So she flies me out and I’m like, ‘Cool, cool! Yeah! So where is my room?’ Dumb as hell. Just stupid.”

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SZA and Drake

In lyrics to a song he did with 21 Savage called “Mr. Right Now,” Drake revealed to the surprise of everyone that he dated singer SZA.

“Yeah, said she wanna f–k to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ’08.”

SZA would only go on to confirm that they did indeed happen, but not around the time he said to clarify that she wasn’t underage at the time.

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Kamala Harris and Montel Williams

Blowing minds everywhere, it was recently revealed that way before she married Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris dated former talk show host Montel Williams. Many couldn’t believe it and others just thought, “How random!” Williams would end up addressing the conversation to pretty much say it was no big thing whatsoever.

“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single. So what?” he tweeted in 2019 around the time that she began her run for president. “I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate?”

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Angela Simmons and Lance Gross

Perhaps they were just friends who liked hanging out and going out to eat, but way before kids, broken engagements and a marriage, Angela Simmons and Lance Gross were rumored to be an item. It came about from the two being spotted out having breakfast together in Los Angeles. They left the lunch together, riding off in the same car. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean they were a couple, but it sure looked like it at the time (which was 2011 — aka, forever ago). These days he’s married to Rebecca Jefferson and they share two children. Simmons is currently dating boxer Daniel Jacobs and has a son, Sutton Jr., from her relationship with the late Sutton Tennyson.

 

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Keke Palmer and Meek Mill

Another situation that wasn’t confirmed nor denied, before he was said to be dating Nicki Minaj, Keke Palmer danced around the question of whether or not she was dating rapper Meek Mill. She hit the people with one of those “It is what it is” responses, mixed with some astrological talk, which didn’t clarify much of anything.

“We don’t need to beat around the bush. I’m not into passive aggression. I know we’re all thinking about the Meek Mill rumors and it doesn’t really matter to me because he and I are very cool,” she said in 2014. “It is what it is. It’s just fun. I talk about everything so it doesn’t really matter.”

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Moniece and Shaq

Moniece spilled the tea that not only did she date Shaquille O’Neal, but it was one of her most fulfilling relationships. They met in 2011 and dated until 2012, when she wanted to be clear on what they were doing.

“He broke it off with me because I was asking too many questions [laughs],” she said. “He doesn’t want to be questioned. He does not like to be cornered. And I’m the type where I’m like, ‘I don’t give a f–k who you are. If I’m concerned, I’m going to voice this concern, you going to answer it. The customer’s always right. You’ve been dropping off d–k? That makes me the customer. I’m the receiving party. I’m always right.”

Nevertheless, she said he’s still someone whose friendship she appreciates.

“We’re still good friends. We haven’t spoken in a minute just with everything that’s going on in the world…but I do know that if ever really, really needed him, he’d be there,” she said. “I think he and I are also better off as friends.”

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Claudia Jordan and Ginuwine

Not only did Claudia Jordan appear in Ginuwine’s “Only When You’re Lonely” video for the song from his debut album, but they were also in a relationship. The singer revealed that during a visit to Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. He shared that information in 2018.

“Early on, yes. In ’97. My video was her first lead role. It was great,” he said.

When asked how many of the girls in his videos he had “affairs” with back in the day, Ginuwine was honest.

“Back then I wasn’t married, so a lot.”

The two have maintained a friendship even though their romantic relationship was short-lived.