Kerry Washington and former San Francisco 49ers cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha quietly tied the knot on June 24, 2013. Since then, the couple has managed to keep their private life, including the birth of their two children, away from the public eye. Nnamdi occasionally walks the red carpet with the Little Fires Everywhere star, but aside from that, they are as low-key as it comes.
Naturally, we’re curious about the in’s and out’s of their relationship. Not much is known, but we were able to do some digging to find more information about Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha’s private marriage.
Who is Nnamdi Asomugha?
Raised by Nigerian parents in the US, Nnamdi Asomugha still felt connected to his Nigerian ancestry and Igbo heritage. He told Raiders.com, “I feel pretty strongly about [my heritage] because that’s what I was raised on. That’s my culture.
His grandmother lived with his family for five years, according to Nnamdi’s interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. Since she didn’t speak much English, he made an effort to learn the language and the culture.
His mom, Dr. Lilian Asomugha, is highly respected in the medical field. After more than 40 years as supervisor and director in the health and pharmaceutical industries, she retired from her pharmaceutical company in 2012 and decided to focus on philanthropy.
His father, Godfrey Asomugha, passed away from a massive heart attack in 1994 when Nnamdi was just 12-years-old. “Nineteen-ninety-four is a blur,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “There was the Northridge earthquake […] And O.J. I don’t remember much else.”
He shares his mom’s love for giving back
His mom is the Chief Executive Officer of a philanthropic real estate investment and development company, and she’s also the founder and president of Orphans and Widows In Need (OWIN), a program within Nnamdi’s charity, the Asomugha Foundation, Inc. Their initiative includes supporting orphans, widows, and other vulnerable populations in Africa, as well as underserved youth in America.
His family is very educated
Education was always very important in the Asomugha household, so it’s no surprise Nnamdi and his siblings are degree’d up! His eldest sister Chisara got her Masters in Health Services Research from Stanford University. His brother Chijioke received his BA in Economics from Stanford University and a Masters in Finance and Management from Columbia Business School. Younger sister Udo received her Bachelor’s in Urban Studies and Planning from UC San Diego. She then received her Masters in Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan and also completed an interior design program.
As for Nnamdi, before becoming a professional NFL player, he played college ball at UC Berkeley and got a degree in corporate finance.
As for Kerry, she’s equally as educated. The former Scandal star graduated from George Washington University in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts and was named an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts in 2013.
Living the frugal life
Nnamdi told Wealthsimple Magazine his family didn’t have much while growing up. Therefore, even after signing a $45.3 million, three-year contract with the Oakland Raiders and becoming a 3x Pro Bowl athlete, he continued living below his means. “I lived the same way because that’s what I knew,” he said.
In a 2011 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, the journalist made note that Nnamdi’s Eagles teammate Asante Samuel drove a Porsche, while Nnamdi was rolling around in a 1997 Nissan Maxima. The Inquirer noted: “The driver’s seat and the armrest are ripped. The tape deck does not work. He has driven it for 13 years, and it is his main means of transportation when he is home in Los Angeles.”
The car was passed down to him by his brother, and Nnamdi used the car while he was in high school and even drove it to his senior prom. Nnamdi’s brother Chijioke told the Inquirer, “He’ll drive it until the wheels fall off.” And he wasn’t lying either…
In his 2017 interview with Wealthsimple Magazine, Nnamdi revealed he was still driving the same Nissan Maxima. By that point, the car was 20-years-old! I guess we can consider the Maxima a family heirloom at this point!
How Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha met
Kerry Washington confirmed to Marie Claire magazine that she met Nnamdi Asomugha while on the job. “The last time I did theater, it completely transformed my life,” she said. “That’s where I met my husband.”
O magazine expounded further by revealing Nnamdi went with a mutual friend to see Kerry perform in Race on Broadway. This would put their first meeting at either the end of 2009 or sometime in 2010, according to when the play was being performed.
Their ‘simple and sweet’ wedding
We have no earthly idea when they got engaged. All we know is that all of a sudden, Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha became husband and wife. They kept things very low-key, and news of their wedding didn’t break until a week after they said their “I do’s.”
According to People magazine, Kerry and Nnamdi flew their guests out to Hailey, Idaho on a private plane. The couple then tied the knot at Kerry’s friend’s “beautiful house.” An insider told People magazine, the ceremony took place outdoors. The source added, “They said their own vows, people stayed at the house. It was really simple and sweet.”
While most celebrity brides go all-out with their wedding gowns, Kerry kept things simple. “The dress was plain white, slim-fitting, like it could have been off a rack,” the source said. “It was really regular.”
His smart transition away from the NFL
After watching one of his teammates get cut during training camp, Nnamdi knew his NFL checks weren’t guaranteed. He revealed to Wealthsimple Magazine that he told himself: “I gotta be prepared. This could end at any time.”
During his second season in the league, he started doing broadcasting in an attempt to find his passion. After shooting a Nike commercial, the director was impressed and asked him if he had ever considered acting. Nnamdi replied, “Yeah, a little bit but not really.”
Two months later, he got a call from director Peter Berg who instructed him to start taking acting lessons so he could appear in his new show entitled Friday Night Lights (pictured above).
After 11 seasons in the NFL, Nnamdi retired. Four months after that, he was on a plane to Ghana to work as the executive producer of Beasts of No Nation.
These days, his entertainment resume is just as robust as his wife’s. Whether he’s producing or acting, he’s making a name for himself in a positive way. In 2017, a film he helped finance, entitled Patti Cake$, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was later sold to Fox Searchlight Pictures for $9.5 million, Deadline reports. Wealthsimple Magazine added that the movie “sold for more than any Sundance film ever.”
In 2018, he also nominated for Best Supporting Actor at that year’s Independent Spirit Awards. He also produced the Broadway show American Son, which starred his wife, Kerry. She told Us Weekly that working with her husband was “great.”
Most recently, he played Private First Class Melvin Peterson in the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play and produced the 2020 film The Banker.
A blended family
Prior to meeting Kerry, Nnamdi had a child during a previous relationship. Not much is known, except a tidbit of information from a 2020 People magazine article that claims his daughter is a teenager.
Nnamdi and Kerry welcomed their first child together, a baby girl named Isabelle Amarachi, on April 21, 2014. Their son Caleb Kelechi was born on October 5, 2016.
Kerry told Marie Claire that motherhood has taught her “everything.” She added, “My children are my teachers […] The children I got sent came in perfect, and I have to figure out how to grow and evolve so that I can support the truth of them. I’m in a constant state of learning and challenging myself to make room for their perfection and beauty.”
Of course, she keeps her kids out of the public eye, although they did pose for a family picture with Nigeria’s Life & Times magazine in honor of Nnamdi’s mom’s 70th birthday.
Separation rumors
Like most Hollywood couples, Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha have dodged separation rumors. Because they’re not all in-your-face like most celebs, there must be something going on with them, right? Not exactly.
In 2015, a Radar Online headline read: “Kerry Washington desperate to divorce.” The Gossip website cited an InTouch Weekly article, which claimed the couple “are like strangers living under the same roof.” The article also alleged Kerry had met with a divorce attorney after their attempts to rectify things through marital counseling failed.
It didn’t help that in January 2016, the couple sold their Hollywood Hills mansion for $2.68 million dollars. Months later, Kerry finally set the record straight. “If I don’t talk about my personal life, it means I don’t talk about my personal life,” she told E! News. “That means not only did I not tell you when I was getting married, it also means if somebody has rumors about what’s going on in my marriage, I don’t refute them, because I don’t talk about my personal life.”
Mrs. Asomugha has spoken!
The real reason she keeps their marriage private
So what’s the deal with Kerry being so hush-hush about her marriage anyway? Those who follow her and her career know she was once very open about her relationships. Back when she was engaged to actor David Moscow, she appeared on the cover of a 2005 issue of Instyle Weddings. In 2007, they went through a very public breakup. According to People magazine, Kerry vowed to keep her personal life to herself from that point forward.
She opened up to Glamour magazine in 2013 and said, “I don’t want to sound smug about it…but the point is to do what’s best for me. I have girlfriends in this business who talk about their personal lives, and it works for them, and I love it. But not for me.”
We wish Kerry Washington and Nnamdi Asomugha nothing but the best!