Beverly Johnson Engaged At 67 To Financier Fiancé Brian Maillian

Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty

Beverly Johnson is just as smart as she is beautiful. When the 67-year-old supermodel, who was the first black woman to grace the cover of VOGUE Magazine, became engaged, she told her fiancé she’d rather they purchase a home together than get a ring!

Pretty smart right. Johnson did an interview with People about her joyful news, revealing, “just finding the love of my life at this point in my life has been amazing.”

The pair, who live together in Rancho Mirage, CA, had some help from their families in taking their relationship to the next level. Johnson says they were with their families attending an event together in Palm Springs when he popped the question.

“My older sister Sheilah was there and she said to Brian, ‘I didn’t hear you give my sister an answer when she asked you to marry her,'” Johnson recalls. “And he said, ‘I have answered her. I have asked her to marry me. And she said, No. Besides that — I don’t have a ring.'”

With that, Johnson says, “Brian’s 88-year-old mother took off her wedding ring and passed it down the table till it got to Brian and he got down on one knee. I was sobbing uncontrollably and he said ‘Will you marry me?’ and I said yes!”

Maillian put the ring on her finger and when Johnson took it off to give back to his mom, her soon-to-be mother-in-law told her: “You can keep it on until the rest of the day!”

Her fiancé eventually did attempt to take her ring shopping but while looking at diamonds she ended up telling him, ‘Brian, I don’t know how to say this but I don’t want a diamond ring, let’s buy a house instead.’

Sweet story right? The couple did end up purchasing that home and now they’re making plans to spend the rest of their lives together. Johnson says the pair’s bond extends from them having a lot in common.

“This is the first time I’ve dated someone so close to my age! We know the same songs and we’ve lived through a lot of the same things,” Johnson, who made history when she became the first woman to cover VOGUE Magazine in 1974, revealed. “As I was breaking boundaries in the fashion industry, he was doing the same on Wall Street.”

It’s fitting that Johnson credits her fiancé for coming up with what she coined in a recent Washington Post op-ed as The Beverly Johnson rule.

In her op-ed she wrote of the Beverly Johnson Rule, “it’s similar to the Rooney Rule in the NFL that mandates that a diverse set of candidates must be interviewed for any open coaching and front office positions,” and proposed that in fashion, beauty and media, “at least two black professionals be interviewed for influential positions.”

It’s definitely a move that would make sense for helping to rectify some of the damage done to those industries by systemic racism.

Now that’s what you call a power couple.

We love to see Black love, and the irony is Beverly Johnson was married twice before (to real estate agent Billy Potter, then daughter Anansa’s dad, music producer Danny Sims) and had sworn off marriage completely.

“I was like how the heck did that happen? I was saying I’m never going to get married again,” Johnson told People.

See that’s what we all should never say never!