But she officially announced they got married!
Insecure star Issa Rae doesn't hold anything back in front of the cameras, but she's made it clear that her personal life is no one's business but her own. Even after debuting a sparkly ring on that finger, the actor still played it coy, which is just one reason why Issa Rae and Louis Diame's relationship history is somewhat of a mystery. Rae and the Senegalese businessman have been together since at least 2012 and have made a few joint public appearances, but beyond that, fans know next to nothing about their romance — and that's exactly the way Rae likes it.
During an April 2018 interview with Marie Claire, Rae said she likes to keep her private life private because "I get so much feedback about everything. The one thing I don't need feedback on is who I'm sleeping with." Fair enough. When asked about her dating life by Vogue in Feb. 2019, Rae expressed a similar sentiment. "I don't want any input," she said. "As a writer, you put everything on the table. ... Any other aspect of my life? Give me the input. But who I'm f*cking? No, I don't need input. I'm good." Again, makes sense to me.
But in July 2021, she did publicly share photos of her and Diame’s gorgeous wedding. Here's what little I do know about their low-key romance.
Though it's unclear when exactly these two started dating, an Oct. 2012 Washington Post article about The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl referred to Diame (who was 29 and a student at the time) as Rae's "boyfriend." The article also mentioned that Diame made a brief cameo appearance in Episode 7 of her web series.
Diame joined Rae at the after party following Insecure's Oct. 2016 premiere at Studio 11 in Los Angeles, though he didn't walk the red carpet with her earlier in the night.
A few months after Insecure premiered, the couple stepped out again to attend HBO's official Golden Globes after-party at Circa 55 Restaurant in Los Angeles, though Diame once again skipped out on the red carpet.
A month later, the duo made their official red carpet debut at the 2017 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards, where Rae was honored with the Vanguard Award for her groundbreaking acting, writing, and producing.
Diame attended his second Golden Globes after party in Jan. 2018, which was hosted by Netflix at Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills. Just like the year before, Rae took on the red carpet solo.
Engagement rumors first surfaced in March 2019 after Rae appeared on the April cover of Essence wearing a sparkler on her ring finger. Less than a week later, her Insecure costars Jay Ellis and Yvonne Orji spilled the beans to Entertainment Weekly at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards on March 30. "We're very excited for her," Orji said, with Ellis adding, "We all found out in different ways because we're all on different text chains."
At the time, Rae refused to confirm the engagement herself (after the NAACP Image Awards, she posted an Insta Story saying, "I didn't confirm sh*t"). During an April 1 appearance on The View, Rae reiterated that a ring doesn’t necessarily mean an engagement. “I have a lot of rings on my fingers,” she said.
But a week later her brother, Lamine Diop, revealed to Us Weekly at the premiere of Little that the engagement happened "around the holidays." He added, "She's so low-key too — for real! I found out, like, a couple days later, so we're just gonna let her lead the way."
Rae and Diame were married at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the south of France. Although the couple didn’t share their exact wedding date (no surprise there), Rae shared the gorgeous wedding photos on July 26. She added a quippy caption to the post, “A) Impromptu photo shoot in a custom @verawang dress. B) My girls came to help me, but they all coincidentally had on the same dress! They were sooooo embarrassed. C) Then I took a few flicks with Somebody’s Husband.”
At least Rae — and not her brother or costars — got to confirm the wedding first.
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